NASCAR WCUP: Crew Chief Club, Kmart 400, Michigan
8 June 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Crew Chief Club at the Kmart 400Event: Kmart 400 When: Sun., June 11 at 1:00 p.m. EDT on CBS
Where: Michigan Speedway (2-mile oval)
Together, Jimmy Makar, Larry McReynolds, Todd Parrott, Robin Pemberton, Tommy Baldwin, Jimmy Elledge, Ryan Pemberton and Greg Zipadelli have led their drivers to 83 wins, 464 top-five finishes, 759 top-10 finishes and 88 poles prior to this Sunday's Kmart 400 at Michigan Speedway.
Parrott and his Robert Yates Racing team hold the race record in the spring Michigan event as the defending champions. Dale Jarrett completed the 1999 Kmart 400 in two hours, 17 minutes and 56 seconds at an average speed of 173.997 mph.
McReynolds has back-to-back wins in the spring event, both with the late Davey Allison (1991 and 1992).
The Crew Chief Club has five wins and two poles in this event. The wins were provided by Parrott and Jarrett in 1999, Pemberton and Rusty Wallace in 1996, Makar and Bobby Labonte in 1995 and McReynolds and Allison in 1992 and 1991. The poles were provided by Parrott and Jarrett in 1997 and McReynolds and Allison in 1992.
Greg Zipadelli and Robin Pemberton will be signing autographs at the Coleman Cares Unit at Michigan Speedway. Zipadelli will appear on Friday, June 9 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Pemberton will appear on Saturday, June 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS AND PLANS GOING INTO MICHIGAN?
Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "Besides Daytona and Talladega, Michigan is one of the larger race tracks we go to. Everything is a factor at Michigan. You've got to have an awfully strong engine because you're on the gas a lot. So, good bottom-end and top-end horsepower are extremely critical and important in running fast. In qualifying, we really tighten our car up, as it seems to run loose when we qualify. But when we run the race, we free the car up. It seems the longer we run at Michigan, the more the front end won't turn and the car will just get pushier and pushier - especially on long runs. Looking back, races at Michigan have been won and lost by pit strategy and fuel mileage. Michigan is one of those places where long green flag runs seem to happen every time we go there, and teams that get good fuel mileage seem to be teams that end up in victory lane. It's a 200-lap race. That means you really need to be able to make that race on three stops, which is lap 50, lap 100 and lap 150. A lot of teams will be borderline in being able to run 50 laps on fuel. A lot of them will be down in the 46-47 lap range, and should the race go green the entire time, there will be some teams who will have to make one extra stop."
Todd Parrott - Ford Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford of Dale Jarrett - "Michigan is a lot like California. We'll have a car without much downforce and a little less drag because we tend to lay the spoiler down a bit more at Michigan. The corners are rather sweeping so you need to handle well through them. We've always raced well at Michigan so we're looking forward to going there. Obviously, we want to perform well there because it's in our sponsor's backyard, but there's really no more pressure than there is anywhere else."
Tommy Baldwin - Caterpillar Pontiac of Ward Burton - "We're bringing back the same car that we ran at California and won at Darlington. We kept the car exactly the way it was except for the new changes that NASCAR gave the Pontiacs. We hope those changes will get us back in the ballgame with the rest of the field."
Text provided by Heather McConnell
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