Sunoco Pit Move of the Week: Atlanta

Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't have the best car at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As it turns out, he didn't need it.

With only three caution flags spread out over 500 grueling miles, it came down to a pit crew contest.

And it wasn't even close.

VIDEO CLIPS Earnhardt Jr. comes in for his final stop of the day Play video

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s pit crew averaged a 13-second stop in each of the final two stops, and each time, they got their man out in plenty of time to stay with the leaders.

They also kept adjusting on the car -- and by the time the 450-mile mark came around, the car was the best it had been all day.

"I credit the team for making great pit stops, and all those guys for the adjustments they made," said Earnhardt Jr. "They really helped the car a lot from where it was at the beginning of the race to the end. It was just a different race car.

On the final stop, Earnhardt Jr. waited three laps so he could pit after most of the other front-runners had pitted, but it didn't matter. Earnhardt Jr.'s car kept getting better as the race wore on, and he had no problem dispatching Jeremy Mayfield with 14 laps to go.

By contrast, Ryan Newman was the last of the front-runners to pit, and a mediocre stop left him no chance to catch back up to the leaders. He finished fifth.

What made the race more painful for Mayfield is the fact that his own pit crew gave him its best stop of the day during the final pit, but Earnhardt Jr.'s crew was a full second faster.

Mayfield seemed surprised that Earnhardt Jr. rallied in the closing laps.

"I guess Junior and them made more aggressive adjustments," Mayfield said.