NASCAR WCUP: Crew Chief Club at the Pennsylvania 500
21 July 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Event: Pennsylvania 500 When: Sun., July 23 at 1 p.m. EDT on TBS
Where: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile tri-oval)
* Together, Jimmy Makar, Larry McReynolds, Todd Parrott, Robin Pemberton, Tommy Baldwin, Jimmy Elledge, Ryan Pemberton and Greg Zipadelli have led their drivers to 85 wins, 473 top-five finishes, 780 top-10 finishes and 93 poles prior to this Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.
* In the last six events, dating back to the June 4th MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover Downs (Del.) International Speedway, a Crew Chief Club member has led his driver to the Bud Pole Award.
* Makar led Bobby Labonte and the Interstate Batteries team to victory in last year's Pennsylvania 500. They finished the race in 4 hours, 16 minutes and 27 seconds at an average speed of 116.982 mph. Their margin of victory over Dale Jarrett was 8.653 seconds.
* Mike Skinner earned the 1999 Bud Pole Award and set the event qualifying record in his McReynolds prepared machine. He toured the 2.5-mile tri-oval in 52.801 seconds at an average speed of 170.451 mph.
* Pemberton and the Penske Racing South team hold the track and event record for the July race at Pocono. Rusty Wallace completed the event in 3 hours, 27 minutes and 3 seconds at an average speed of 144.892 mph on July 21, 1996.
* In last year's Pennsylvania 500, the Crew Chief Club finished in the following order:
- Makar/Labonte Start: 4th Finish: 1st Status: Running
- Parrott/Jarrett Start: 15th Finish: 2nd Status: Running
- Zipadelli/Stewart Start: 12th Finish: 4th Status: Running
- McReynolds/Skinner Start: 1st Finish: 10th Status: Running
- Ry. Pemberton/Irvan Start: 24th Finish: 11th Status: Running
- Ro. Pemberton/R. Wallace Start: 17th Finish: 18th Status: Running
- Elledge/K. Wallace Start: 28th Finish: 37th Status: Accident
- Baldwin/Burton Start: 8th Finish: 40th Status: Running
Tommy Baldwin - Caterpillar Pontiac of Ward Burton - "The most important thing right now is to have a decent run or we could slip way back in the points. We've been in the top five in points since we won at Darlington and I want to make sure we stay there. There are a lot of teams running real well, so we need to continue to do what we've been doing and that's having consistent runs."
Jimmy Elledge - Square D/Cooper Lighting Chevrolet of Kenny Wallace - "It's nice to return to Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 500 early in the schedule because the Pocono 500 is still fairly fresh in our minds. The weather is similar, and that's a luxury that we don't have at other venues. At most tracks, you run one race close to winter conditions and you run the other race in the heat of the summer. This year, the weather was a huge factor during the first Pocono race, but we did get some important practice time information in case the weather conditions are better."
Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "The car we're running at Pocono this week is car No. 62, the same car we had there the last time. It will be in a little bit different configuration from what we ran all the races with the first part of the season, including the June Pocono race. What happens to you, and we're all guilty of it in this sport, is that we get a car that becomes our favorite car and we run it and we run it and we run it. You start not performing as well as maybe you did when you first started running it. And the reason is not because you're running any worse but because of the competition."
Text provided by Heather McConnell
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