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NASCAR WCUP: Stewart heads back to where his NASCAR 'high-performance' started

22 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
After earning his 19th top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday, Home Depot driver Tony Stewart heads to North Carolina Speedway, the track where he finished 12th in February and gained his first Winston Cup top-15 finish.

On Saturday, the #20 Home Depot pit crew will participate in the annual Union 76/Rockingham World Pit Crew Competition. Going head-to-head with the other 40+ pit crews in the garage, the Home Depot team will try to duplicate their best race day efforts in order to earn the bragging rights of being the best and fastest pit crew of 1999. Led by crew chief Greg Zipadelli, the seven over-the-wall pit crew members include: Scott Diehl, jack man; Jeff "Gooch" Patterson, gas man; Bert Bonfili, front tire carrier; Marcus Bonicelli, gas catch can man; Tim Sparkman, rear tire carrier; Jerold Shires, rear tire changer; and Michael Lingerfelt, front tire changer. Additional incentive to be the best of the best is the cash prize of $25,000 awarded to the winning crew.

Over the course of the 1999 season, Stewart has an average starting position of 12.47 and finishing position of 10.67. He has led the second-most laps for a total of 1,028 over 14 different races. He is currently fifth in the point standings with two poles, one win, 10 top- five, 19 top-10 and 25 top-15 finishes.

Tony Stewart, Driver -- (Fifth in standings with 4,159 points)
On Racing at Rockingham:

"Rockingham has always been one of my favorite tracks. We did very well there in the Busch series and ran well in the spring Winston Cup race. Our 6th place finish at Talladega helped this Home Depot team gain ground in the point standings. We're totally focused on staying in the top-five in points. With only four races left in the season, we have to be solid in everything we do during each race.

"My crew is going to participate in the annual "Union 76/Rockingham World Pit Crew Competition" at Rockingham this weekend. It's the one opportunity the crew guys get to really showcase their talent and be recognized and rewarded for their achievements. The winning crew gets a nice check and trophies for their effort but more importantly, bragging rights in the garage. I'm going to do everything I can to support the crew in their effort to win. We've all grown together as a team and I'm proud of everything they do for me week in and week out. It would be totally awesome for the Home Depot crew to be the champion NASCAR Winston Cup pit crew."

Greg Zipadelli, Crew Chief

"The Home Depot crew is fired up to go to Rockingham for both the race and the pit crew competition. They've worked hard this year on improving pit stops every week. This competition is an opportunity to go head-to-head with other crews in the garage and see where we stack up. We hope we can win it, which would be a great reward for everyone's hard work. I'm proud of how well this rookie team has come together. We've made some mistakes, but the key is to learn from our mistakes and go forward. Everyone on this team gives 110 percent every week. If we could win both the competition and race, it would be an awesome weekend for everyone on this Home Depot team and Joe Gibbs Racing."

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