Mike Lingerfelt is one of the top hands on pit road in terms of changing tires. In the high-speed world of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, that's saying something.

Lingerfelt changes tires for three-time and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, and that's as pressure-packed a position as there is anywhere in sports. If he makes a mistake, Johnson loses precious track position and potentially the race.

Of course, Lingerfelt and his mates on the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team don't make many mistakes. For their effort on pit road, they've won the Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew Championship -- the most sought-after title for NASCAR pit crews voted on by crew chiefs -- for the past two seasons. No other team has won the honor more than once in the seven-year history of the prestigious award.

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As for gloves, I'm wearing the MRT. I joke with them, because my name is Michael and I call it 'Michael's Race Technology.' It's a glove I helped them do some R&D work on and it progresses to be better and better.

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MIKE LINGERFELT

"I feel very fortunate to have been on some very good teams, and being able to win that award twice means a lot to me," he said. "You work so hard through the year and you really don't do it for the accolades and all, but to get a big award like that at the end of the year, it really does mean a lot."

Like a lot of pit crewmen, Lingerfelt is a former driver. That gives him some unique perspective on race days.

"I grew up racing dirt cars for a living," he said. "It got to a certain point where I figured out I was going to have to work on them or drive them. It was costing so much to drive late models, I felt like it would be more beneficial to work on them and I chose that path in 1994."

Lingerfelt's path to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is paved in versatility.

"I started out with Shane Hall in All Pro and a limited Nationwide Series schedule. From there, I went to Jason Keller's family-owned team in Greenville and worked there for a couple of years. I was fortunate to go from there to Richard Childress Racing on the No. 31 team when they had Lowe's as a sponsor. It all went really quick once I got my foot in the door. We were having good stops then, and we started getting noticed."

The native of Travelers Rest, S.C., is a jack-of-all-trades when not on pit road.

"In the shop, I'm a mechanic," said Lingerfelt. "I do all the special projects in the shop."

He's what's known as a "go-to guy."

"I've been fortunate enough to be very diverse, getting to do a lot of different things," Lingerfelt explained. "I started out as a mechanic and also ended up doing electrical and the interiors with RCR for a couple years. I'm fortunate because I can do a lot of different things. It's been fun to get to Hendrick Motorsports because they have a lot of great people in place. When they hired me, I was kind of an extra guy, so I get all the special projects. Through the winter I build new crash carts."

But it's on pit road where Lingerfelt really shines, changing tires and performing a hard job with aplomb. He relies heavily on his safety equipment. Chief among that equipment is the Mechanix Wear gloves he wears while wielding his air gun.

Mechanix Wear is a leading supplier of gloves for all occasions in NASCAR. From the first use of Mechanix Wear "Original" Gloves by the RCR No. 3 GM Goodwrench Team at the 1992 Daytona 500, Mechanix Wear has maintained an important role in NASCAR.

Since then, Mechanix Wear has evolved from a Team Product Supplier and Contingency Sponsor, to the NASCAR Officials' Product Supplier and the Officially Licensed Gloves of NASCAR.

Lingerfelt is one of the company's primary glove research and development gurus at the track. He provides Mechanix Wear a tremendous amount of feedback and input in the areas of comfort, grip, performance, dexterity and durability.

"What I try to feed back to them is the fit, how it fits in the fingers. You want it to be tight at the tip and the webbing all the way down between your fingers. A lot of it is seam placement, padding and fit."

Another area of utmost importance: protection.

"The gloves are very important, for protection first," Lingerfelt said. "If you go to Martinsville, the brake heat transfers into the wheel. It's like opening your oven, reaching in and grabbing a tray out of it and pulling it out of the oven with no gloves on. Then you put one back on that's cool and run around the other side of the car and pull that same tray out of the oven."

He's not exaggerating either. In the heat of on-track battle, brake temperatures can rise into the 1,100-degree range. Wheel temperatures can reach 450-degrees in the center.

"When you grab hold of a tire during a stop, it's still probably in the 300-degree range, so you can imagine doing that without gloves," Lingerfelt winces.

Still Lingerfelt insists having the right gloves is all about fit.

"You can go anywhere and buy a leather welding glove, but you don't have any feel. You want something that's nice and tight and you can actually feel your finger tips. It would be like putting on a garden glove and trying to pick up a needle. You want something that fits nice but has some protection against sharp edges if you're fixing crash damage."

Lingerfelt was introduced to the professionals at Mechanix Wear back in 1997. The company not only does a lot of its glove R&D work at track on the weekends, but they also conduct team shop visits during the off-season, gaining valuable input and ideas from over 650 NASCAR team members on 46 different teams.

"The best aspect about feedback from race teams is the mindset they have about their jobs," explains Ted Abdon, Mechanix Wear director of racing. "Professional racers spend every day working to do their job better and faster than the next guy. They're constantly thinking of improvement. We benefit from this by having hundreds of creative minds educated in mechanics and engineering, which evaluate our products 6-7 days a week, 50 weeks a year."

Lingerfelt uses the company's Mechanix Racing Technology (MRT) line of cutting edge hand protection product on race day. It's a revolutionary, next generation glove designed to protect Lingerfelt's most valuable tool -- his hands.

"As for gloves, I'm wearing the MRT. I joke with them, because my name is Michael and I call it 'Michael's Race Technology.' It's a glove I helped them do some R&D work on and it progresses to be better and better. Right now, I think it's the best glove on the market in terms of fit and feel, while still having a lot of heat protection in it. It has some palm padding and wrap-around fingertips so you don't rip the seams out of them."

Next time the No. 48 Lowe's crew busts off a blazing-fast pit stop, remember what Lingerfelt has to do: take hot pans out of the oven with both hands and only Mechanix Wear glove technology between him and a very hot racing wheel.

Want to pick up your own pair of Mechanix Wear gloves? Visit your local Lowe's Home Improvement store or log on to www.mechanixwear.com.