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As pit crews evolve so do the athletes that join the roster. The influx of college athletes that join the crews has been a topic of conversation over the past few years. Getting the exact names and numbers of the guys on the teams is an extremely hard statistic to get. The turnover rate is high, thus it is next to impossible to attain 100 percent accuracy, but we have tried our best to get it right. So here you go … the most in-depth article you'll find on former college athletes on pit road circa fall 2015.
We based our stats off of 39 full-time running Sprint Cup Series teams, giving us a total of 234 crewmen. Out of that number, 62 of them, or 26 percent, played college athletics. For the developmental crewmen that statistic would be closer to 80 percent.
Taking the same 62 pit crew members and breaking them down into what position they pit looks like this:
-- Carriers: 21 (34 percent)
-- Jackmen: 16 (26 percent)
-- Gasmen: 16 (26 percent)
-- Changers: 8 (15 percent)
Looking into these stats even more we find that 49 (79 percent) played football followed by baseball with eight (13 percent). Basketball, wrestling and soccer make up the remaining 8 percent.
As far as where these athletes pit, the breakdowns look like this:
-- Hendrick Motorsports: 16 (26 percent)
-- Joe Gibbs Racing: 8 (13 percent)
-- Stewart-Haas Racing: 5 (8 percent)
-- Michael Waltrip Racing: 5 (8 percent)
Here is a list of the schools these former college athletes studied at:
-- Wake Forest University: 5 (8 percent)
-- Appalachian State University: 4 (6 percent)
-- University of Nebraska-Lincoln: 4 (6 percent)
-- Lenoir-Rhyne University: 3 (5 percent)
-- East Carolina University: 3 (5 percent)
Out of the 16 teams that started the Chase this year, 33 (53 percent) of the pit crew members were college athletes.
For full list of the pit crew statistics, check out the charts below. Enjoy.
