 | | Sterling Marlin. Credit: Autostock |
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
April 18, 2005
02:26 PM EDT (18:26 GMT)
Pit Story of the Race FORT WORTH, Texas -- Chip Ganassi Racing has gone from having lackluster, mistake-riddled stops to a near-flawless performance at Texas that sent the team to three top-five finishes. Major changes were made to all three teams' pit setups over the winter, and the new teams showed they could handle the pressure. Marlin was running 14th before the final round of stops. Crew chief Steve Boyer figured Marlin might get a top-10 with a two-tire stop, but the pit crew surprised him with a 6.5-second stop, sending him all the way to fourth. "That last two-tire stop was really fast for a two-tire stop and we beat a lot of guys out that I didn't think could beat out even with two tires," Boyer said. Marlin was happy to finally be out traffic and was willing to drive on old tires. as it turned out, getting out of the traffic was the best thing for his Dodge. "That was the best the car drove all day in clean air," Marlin said. Mears was running second when he and crew chief Jimmy Elledge opted to also take two tires. They knew Biffle would take four tires and hoped other cars -- like Marlin -- would take two and bottle up Biffle in traffic. It didn't happen, mainly because Biffle's pit crew was outstanding all day as well.  |  | | Casey Mears |
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"I think they knew they were not going to beat Biffle straight up, so they had to try something and hope more people took two," Boyer said. "Just didn't work out." Undoubtedly, Mears was worried about the final stop even with two tires. in 2004, Mears had several good runs ruined by late-race mistakes. "The pit crew has come a long way," Mears said. "Since I've been here, that is the first time I have up front and they have not cracked under pressure. We have got a good group of guys." "When it came to crunch time we'd choke," Elledge said. "We made a few changes over the winter and this was their first test. They did fabulous." The elusive 13-second barrier Greg Biffle's crew gave him a couple of sub 14-second pit stops, and they performed a flawless final stop, keeping him in second despite taking four tires. Biffle had the advantage of an open pit stall in front of his pit area, enabling him a quick exit despite crowded conditions. "(The) pit stops were unbelievable,' Biffle said. Up and down day for Kahne in the pits Kasey Kahne had three pit stops in the 13-second range, but he lost a ton of track position -- six spots worth -- when he overshot his pit box during the round of green flag stops on Lap 187. |  | ALSO | |
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Kahne was forced to enter his pit box at the last second, and got over the pit box line by only 12 inches. Even so, crew chief Tommy Baldwin was forced was get his men to manually push the car back into the box. Kahne wrecked on Lap 270 and wound up 35th after spending 254 laps in the top 10. Newman finishes on lead lap despite penalty Ryan Newman received a drive-through penalty after the crew lost a tire during his pit stop on Lap 191, which knocked him off the lead lap. Newman got his lap back when the 11th and final caution flew, and he finished 16th. "We suffered the penalty from a runaway tire on pit road. It just wasn't a good day," Newman said. Quotable "But sitting here right now, I can't be more proud of my crew guys than I am. Chad made some incredible calls on pit road. We had to pull spring rubbers, put them back in, wedge, track bar, and air pressures. Chad was doing everything he could to do to that car. And at the end, he got it right." -- Jimmie Johnson, who spent only 128 laps in the top 10, yet finished third. | 
