CORNELIUS, N.C. — Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 00 and No. 56 teams have a not-so-secret weapon in their arsenal for Thursday night’s NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge – their pit crew coach Greg Miller. Miller led the pit crews at Evernham Motorsports when it won the 2003 and 2005 events and finished runner-up in 2006. Miller’s Red Bull Racing team also earned the 2008 title. Miller joined MWR in 2009 overseeing the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine and No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS crews. He’s implemented a training strategy for winning Thursday’s 2011 competition.
GREG MILLER QUOTES
ON THE PIT CREW COMPETITION: “We started training about a month or so ago. The biggest thing that we all gear up for is the car push. So we’ve been out with our tractor tires and our land mover tires trying to push those around and lift those up. The pit stop component of it is similar enough to our normal day-to-day that we practice that all the time. The main thing is that the competition is won by the car push and we’ve been trying to gear up with our legs and doing extra stuff in the weight room, extra treadmill work and deadmill work things like that just to get in shape to do it.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR THE GUYS TO WIN? “We all talk trash to each other – all the teams do – that’s part of the fun. Individually I think it’s the one time of year that the changers, carriers, jack man and gas guys get the publicity as to who is the top dog in the series. There are a lot of different things that happen at the competition where someone is sour over something because somebody thinks outside of the box to get something accomplished to gain a competitive advantage, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens this year. I know everyone is psyched for it. That first round is for the individual competitors to win some money – everybody gets hyped up for that. That’s what everybody shoots for.
ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
· The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine pit crew competes in the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge at Time Warner Cable Arena in uptown Charlotte on Thursday. SPEED-TV will broadcast the event at 8 p.m.
· The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Pit Crew Roster: Front Tire Changer—Ryan Langley, Front Tire Carrier—Chris Hall, Jack Man—Tony Cardamone, Rear Tire Changer—Lee Cunningham, Rear Tire Carrier—Don Marvel, Gas Man—Evan Marchal, Second Gas Man—Getty Cavitt.
· The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Pit Crewis donating the money won at the Pit Crew Competition to send a child to Victory Junction Gang Camp this summer. The No. 00 team participates each year in NASCARnival night at Victory Junction where they meet with the kids and demonstrate and perform pit stops for the campers.
· David Reutimann the All-Star: Reutimann is making his second career appearance in the Sprint All-Star Race. Reutimann finished 19th in 2010 after he was involved in a multi-car incident on the first lap of the final segment. Reutimann qualified for the 2010 event by winning the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 and for the 2011 event by winning the Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10, 2010.
· Come One, Come All! Michael Waltrip Racing will hold its annual Fan Day on May 25 in Cornelius, N.C. Truex will sign autographs starting 5:30 p.m. Michael Waltrip along with David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Truex and Brett Moffitt will also be in attendance.
Visit: www.michaelwaltrip.com for event details. Sponsor
Follow Aaron’s on Twitter: @AaronsSports Driver: David Reutimann Born: March 2, 1970 Hometown: Zephyrhills, Fla. Resides: Terrell, N.C. Broadcast Schedule
Date: Thursday May 19 PCC 8:00 p.m. SPEEDTV
Date: Friday May 20 Practice 1:30 p.m. SPEEDTV Qualify 6:00 p.m. SPEEDTV
Date: Saturday May 21 Race 9:00 p.m. SPEEDTV
