Harvick's Crew Wins Tissot Pit Road Award in Texas

Fort Worth, November 11, 2009: Kevin Harvick’s crew claimed the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Sunday’s (Nov. 8) NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

It was the first Tissot win of the season for Harvick’s No. 29 crew, which became the 18th different winner of the 2009 pit road competition.

Harvick’s Chevy Impala SS spent the least amount of time on pit road (221.751 seconds) during the Dickies 500. The winning effort by the No. 29 crew helped Harvick post a fifth-place finish in Texas.

"The No. 29 crew did an unbelievable job on pit road this past weekend,” said Matt Clark, human performance director at Richard Childress Racing. “The Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet crew epitomizes the essence of teamwork and performance. It is awesome to see a group of individuals come together and work hard in the gym as well as on pit road, too.

“To do what they did in Texas this past weekend showed up in the results as Kevin Harvick was able to gain positions on pit road and on the race track. Thanks to Tissot for sponsoring this award and rewarding pit crews for their hard work."

Harvick’s over-the-wall crew, which earned $5,000 for the Tissot win, consists of: DJ Richardson (front-tire changer), Erik Pringle (front-tire carrier), Jonathon Billy (rear-tire changer), Mike Hodges (rear-tire carrier), Corey Wimbish (jackman), Mike Morrison (gasman) and Cruz Gonzales (catch can). The team’s crew chief is Gil Martin.

With two races remaining in the 2009 season, three teams are in contention to capture the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award season championship which carries a $100,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the crew and driver.

Greg Biffle’s crew leads the competition with six wins, followed by five wins for Jeff Gordon’s crew and four wins for Jimmie Johnson’s crew.

If there’s a tie in the Tissot competition after the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 22), the team which finishes the highest in the Sprint Cup driver point standings will be awarded the Tissot season title.

Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.