Twenty-four teams to vie for Pit Crew Challenge

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Far more than mere prelude, the third annual Nextel Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman shines a worthy spotlight on some of the Cup Series' most important participants -- team crew members.

On Wednesday, 24 pit crews will battle for team and individual position titles at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. It's the third consecutive pit-crew competition, which spotlights often-unsung personnel.

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"You can't win a championship without a team effort," said crew chief Robbie Reiser, whose driver, Matt Kenseth, won the 2003 series title and the 2004 Nextel All-Star Challenge. "And it takes everybody throughout the year to do that. And not only all of the work they do in the shop but the work they do over the wall is a key ingredient to making that all happen."

This year, crews' work will play a role in Saturday night's 23rd annual Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Teams will pick their pits for the event based on the finishing order of Wednesday's Challenge.

A quick reminder: Seven team members are allowed "over the wall" to service a car on pit road. On Wednesday, this year's 24 eligible pit crews will compete for a grand prize of $70,300. Each individual position champion will receive a $10,000 prize.

Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 1 Chevrolet pit crew is the defending champion.

"It's just a great weekend for motorsports in general here," said Kevin Manion, crew chief for the No. 1 team. "Being based out of Charlotte, the guys, a lot of their families can come out and see them perform."

This year's Nextel Pit Crew Challenge features two significant format changes -- the addition of a seeding round and a "call-out" round.

Following is the order of competition:

• Seeding round: New this year, all participating teams are seeded based on the series' car-owner standings as of May 13. The top eight teams receive a bye into the second round. They also will compete in the seeding round to determine their ranking for the rest of the competition, with the top seed posting the fastest overall time. Thus, the top seed could receive a lower seed, and vice-versa.

• Round One: Teams seeded Nos. 9-24 -- again, according to series car-owner standings -- compete here. They also retain their seeding for the rest of competition. The fastest front-tire carrier, front-tire changer, rear-tire changer, rear-tire carrier, jack man, gas man and catch-can man in both seeding- and first-round competition will win individual titles.

• Round Two: The eight teams who prevailed in Round One competition advance here, where they'll face the top eight-seeded teams. Eight teams advance to the next round.

• Round Three: This is the Nextel "call-out" round, the second new facet of competition. The highest-remaining seeded team begins by selecting -- or "calling out" -- its choice of opponent. The next highest-seeded remaining team then "calls out" its opponent, and so on. All eight teams compete once in this round.

• Round Four: The final four teams advance here, with two winners advancing.

• Championship Round: The winning team is crowned the 2007 champion.

The Lineup

Eligible pit crews include those from teams qualified for the 2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge -- all 2006 event winners and any additional winners through May 13, 2007. Also eligible are winners of former Nextel Pit Crew Challenges (Truex's team), former series champions from the past 10 years and former All-Star champions from the past 10 years.

Any remaining positions go to the highest-ranked teams in the car-owner standings who aren't otherwise eligible for Saturday's All-Star event. This year, those are the pit crews for Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Chevrolet), Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford), Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Ford), Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Dodge) and J.J. Yeley (No. 18 Chevrolet).

Eligible pit crews from 2006 and to-date '07 event-winning teams include those of Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ford), Jeff Burton (No. 31 Chevrolet), Kurt Busch (No. 2 Dodge), Kyle Busch (No. 5 Chevrolet), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Chevrolet), Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet), Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Chevrolet), Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet), Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge), Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet), Casey Mears (No. 25 Chevolet), Tony Stewart (No. 20 Chevrolet) and Brian Vickers (No. 83 Toyota).

Other eligible pit crews are those from the teams of 1999 series champion Dale Jarrett (No. 44 Toyota), 2000 series champion Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Dodge), 2002 Nextel All-Star Challenge winner Ryan Newman (No. 12 Dodge) and 2005 Nextel All-Star Challenge winner Mark Martin (No. 01 Chevrolet).