NASCAR WCUP: Crew Chief Club at the Winston 500
15 October 1999
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Event: Winston 500 When: Sun., Oct. 17 at 1:00 p.m. EDT on
ESPN
Where: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile tri-oval)
Together, Jimmy Makar, Larry McReynolds, Todd Parrott and Robin Pemberton have led their drivers to 74 wins, 400 top-five finishes, 632 top-10 finishes and 76 poles prior to this Sunday's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Parrott and Dale Jarrett are the defending champions of the Winston 500. They finished the race in 3 hours, 8 minutes and 20 seconds at an average speed of 159.318 mph.
McReynolds also has a win in the Winston 500. It was in 1992 with Davey Allison. Pemberton led Mark Martin to the first starting spot in 1989 when the two were together at Roush Racing.
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT FINDING A DRAFTING PARTNER?
Jimmy Makar - Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte - "It's good to have a drafting partner, but it's a very hard thing to find. We've been fortunate in the last few restrictor plate races. Bobby's been able to find a partner during practice that has ended up around him during the race. Then they're able to work together to get through traffic and to the front. It really helps you because sometimes you really need that little extra bit of help to make a pass and you can't do it yourself. If you find yourself in a position where you need to go and you're not quite sure you can do it yourself, two guys working together can get both of you to the front. Once you're to the front, you're back to every man for himself. But to keep yourself at the front of the pack, it's a real important thing to have." Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "They'll search each other out during practice. You've got so many teammates and team cars in the garage area. Certainly all the Roush cars will work together. The Yates cars, the Childress cars, they'll certainly work together. They'll pretty much throw anybody under the bus I think for their teammate. But the drivers search each other out at practice on Saturday and run with different cars and run with different people; you'll swap around and see if you're faster with you out in the front or him out in front; and you'll just build that book of knowledge for Sunday. When it comes down to it, you'll know who can help you the most."
Todd Parrott - Ford Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford of Dale Jarrett - "A drafting partner is very important. You've got to have somebody that will follow you and stick with you. If you go high he goes high, if you go low hopefully he'll go low. Once you get to racing, you can't race without a drafting partner. So, you've got to make friends and hopefully keep those friends until you get to the end."
Robin Pemberton - Miller Lite Ford of Rusty Wallace - "A lot of times it's who you run with. You can make deals all you want during the week, but you can never plan the scenarios for the race. When you get there, there's a good opportunity that a certain Ford will run better with a certain Ford or a Pontiac or Chevrolet. There are some times that certain cars run very well together, and that might be the time when you work something out with a particular driver."
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