Success or failure all in a matter of 13 quick seconds (cont'd)

On race day, crewing the car means sitting through long periods of inaction punctuated by short bursts of fury. While Bowyer's car is on the track at Darlington, his over-the-wall guys watch the race on television monitors attached to the pit box, munch on power bars, or pace. Some sit on the pit wall, others on stacks of tires. In their own way they're each preparing themselves for the job to come, the immediacy heightened when Bowyer cues the radio to complain about the handling of his racecar.

"This sport is mental. We're all pretty close on talent. There might be some teams out there less talented than others, but it all comes down to being mentally tough," said Westerberg, a 33-year-old former late model driver from Miami.

"We've tried really hard here in the last year to be mentally tough, not thinking of the outcome of the pit stop, not thinking, 'We've got to do a 13-second pit stop.' Just thinking, 'Do your job, and the time will take care of itself, and everything on the track will take care of itself.' If you go into it thinking, 'I've got to gain five spots,' you're going to fail most of the time. It's just like a guy shooing a free throw. If he goes up there thinking, 'I've got to make this shot to win,' he's not going to make it. He goes up there thinking, 'It's just like practice, no big thing,' he's going to make it most of the time. We just try to think of it like that."

Practice is something the No. 07 crew gets in whenever it can, but time is often limited. Each member of Boywer's over-the-wall crew has a weekday duty at the Richard Childress Racing shop, from fabricating bodies to help setting up the car. There are the Tuesday sessions with pit crew coordinator Corrine Mauldin, who goes over film of every stop from Sunday, looking for areas of improvement. There's strength training in the gym. Many members of Bowyer's crew also work races for RCR Busch cars, using Saturdays as their dry run for the real thing.

And the real thing comes fast. Most of Boywer's crew has been working together for more than a year, but there are exceptions. Mike Morrison, gas man for three Busch championship teams at RCR, is now on the Cup squad. And with regular front tire carrier Dail Long out with a strained back ligament suffered April 15 at Texas Motor Speedway, Erik Pringle has been called up from the Busch series. Darlington is only his fourth race carrying tires -- ever.

No time for rookie mistakes now. After David Ragan spins to bring out a caution, spotter Mike Dillon lets Bowyer know that pit road is open. Pringle -- who's wearing a back fireproof suit with Long's name stitched to the back -- squats on the wall, holding a tire between his legs. Westerberg pats him on the shoulder, says a few words, and receives a confident nod in return. Before every stop at Darlington, the new kid and the six-year veteran will go through the same routine.

"I would just tell him, 'Do what you did the last stop. You're the man. You can do this,'" Westerberg said. "Not that he was nervous, I don't think he was nervous. Just to reassure him that I wasn't going to get all over him if something is wrong. We struggled a little [in the Busch race] on Friday night, but because we were pulling fenders. When you don't have the experience of knowing how far to get the fender out or when to do it, it can be a little bit of a cluster. You have to go with it. On our team, nobody's going to jump up and down on somebody when things aren't right." (Continued)