The No. 97 pit crew work feverishly to repair damage and get Kurt Busch back on the track. Credit: Autostock

Sunoco Pit Move: Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Pit stops are relatively unimportant at Talladega, and nothing really remarkable happened on pit road to alter the outcome.

It is hard not to be impressed by the repairs Kurt Busch's crew made on pit road to his damaged Ford after he hit the fence while leading on Lap 90.

Nice finishKurt Busch talks about his eighth-place finish Victory LaneDale Jarrett celebrates his UAW-Ford 500 win at Talladega Final lapsJarrett comes out on top of a green-white-checker finish Top finishersChase drivers talk about their finishes Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Busch got a flat tire and pancaked the right side of the No. 97, but his crew kept him on the lead lap, and he rallied to finish eighth.

"Yeah, eighth was great considering our car was very damaged, but it's just a question of why do we get a flat tire while leading?" Busch said.

Jarrett's pit crew deserves nod

They haven't been in a position to win many races, but Dale Jarrett's pit crew performed the final pit stop under green flawlessly.

Their quick stop enabled Jarrett to leave pit road with the leaders in sight with less than 30 laps to go.

Stewart gets assist on pit road

Talladega's 188 laps can take seemingly all day, and when Tony Stewart developed water temperature problems early in the event, they used a caution on Lap 57 to alleviate the problem.

"But we just kept coming in and kept peeling a strip of tape off at a time," Stewart said. "We finally ended up peeling all the tape off the car. I'm sure that slowed it down a little bit but at the same time at least we got the heat issue under control. And they did a good job."

I came all this way to merely set up the pit box?!

Talladega has to be a frustrating track for pit crews. Several teams were denied the chance to even make one stop when the big crash happened on Lap 20.

ALSO Pit Move of the Week: Archive

Most teams get up at the crack of dawn Sunday to fly to wherever the Nextel Cup Series is racing that day, and when they don't get the chance to show off their skills, it has to be frustrating.

Quotable

"I was just riding and trying to at least make it to a pit stop, and we didn't even get to make it to our first pit stop."
-- Elliott Sadler, who was caught up in a crash on Lap 20