Stewart's Pit Crew Edges Earnhardt Jr.'s Crew For Season Title, $200,000 Champion's Bonus: The pit crew for Tony Stewart captured the season title in the McDonald's Drive-Thru Pit Championship fueled by POWERade. The #20 Home Depot/Joe Gibbs Racing crew will collect a $200,000 champion's bonus from McDonald's/POWERade, Dec. 3 in New York City. By winning the weekly competition three times and earning $20,000 for each victory, the total prize money earned in 2004 by Stewart's crew was $260,000. In the 36-race competition, Stewart's crew defeated the pit crew for Dale Earnhardt Jr. by a mere four points - 1262 to 1258. Earnhardt's crew won the inaugural McDonald's/POWERade championship in 2003. Elliott Sadler's crew, a seven-time weekly winner, finished third with 1248 points. The crew for Nextel Cup champion, Kurt Busch, was fourth (1240) and Kevin Harvick's crew rounded out the top five (1222). "I think it's awesome that my guys won the McDonald's/POWERade pit crew championship," said Stewart. "They've worked hard all year, in the gym and at the race track. And when track position was tough to come by, they gave it to me with fast pit stops. My guys definitely earned this championship."

Stewart's over-the-wall crew consists of: Chuck White (jackman), Tom Dean (front-tire carrier), Mike Lingerfelt (front-tire changer), Jody Fortson (rear-tire carrier), Todd Foster (rear-tire changer), Jeff "Gooch" Patterson (gas man) and Brian Larson (catch can). The team's crew chief is Greg Zipadelli and the pit stop coordinator is Paul Alepa.

(DMF Commincations PR)

redriderbob

 

That's awesome... that's alot of money... LOL!

~Amanda

 

Best thing is it goes to the crew. Of course Tony already treats his crew probably the best out of the whole garage area, by always giving them great bonuses when he does good, out of his own pocket. A lot of people hate Tony, but he does spread his money around to other pretty well, look at the Victory Junction Gang Camp!

redriderbob

 

Yah, he's done very good things for the Victory Junction Gang camp... I really like Tony Stewart, NASCAR and the related programs wouldn't be the same without him IMO.

~Amanda