I suppose this isn't any different than the NBA's Slam Dunk Contest. Major League Baseball has the Home Run Derby. Even the NHL has it's Skeeels Competition.
Those are all lead-ins for the annual all-star games for their respective sports.
Just as the Nextel Pit Crew Challenge is one of the features of the Nextel All Star week, at Lowes Motor Speedway. And naturally the family France handled the show in a typically understated manner.
It was actually a pretty cool event. Head to head competition. Lugnuts everywhere. NASCAR penalties. Yep NASCAR handed out penalties in an all star game. More than half of the teams competing were penalized for things like loose lugnuts or spilled gasoline. No reports of altered rear wings or blue fuel additives, though. Oh yeah, this was a game for pit crews, not crew chiefs.
The solution for speeding in the pit lane has been found as well. From now on, the poor jackman will push his car from the commitment line to his pit stall. This was NASCAR reality TV at it's gaudiest.
Rumor has it that the engine shops will have their own competition in 2008. The Jack Daniels Still Building Classic.
For next year's event, I have a suggestion for the Pit Crew Challenge.
Try writing about it.
Picture credit: Chuck Burton/Associated Press
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