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[/media-credit]CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 17, 2012) – The No. 48 My Lowe’s Chevrolet captured the championship title for the eighth annual NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew ChallengeTM held at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mirroring the 2011 final round, the No. 48 pit crew defeated the back-to-back reigning champions, the No. 11 FedEx Toyota, with a time of 22.239 seconds.
The My Lowe’s Chevrolet pit crew consists of jack man TJ Ford from Charlotte, N.C.; gas man Brandon Harder from Oak Harbor, Ohio; front-tire changer Dave Collins from Riverside, Calif.; front-tire carrier RJ Barnette from Pinson, Ala.; rear-tire changer Calvin Teague from Taylorsville, N.C.; and rear-tire carrier Matt Tyrrell from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The winning pit crew will walk away with a purse of $80,675 as well as a donation to the Jimmie Johnson Foundation in the amount of $9,169.15. In addition, the team will have first pit selection for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday, May 19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
During the individual skills competition, three event records were broken including the gas man, front-tire changer and carrier, and the rear-tire changer and carrier. Tom Lampe, gas man for the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota set a record time of 8.610 seconds. Teammates from the No. 18 pit crew, Jake Seminara and Kenny Barber, captured the record for rear-tire changer and carrier with a time of 13.073 seconds. Tim Sheets and JD Holcomb from the No. 31 CAT Chevrolet pit crew secured the front-tire changer and carrier record with a 13.615-second performance. Jeff Kerr, a three-time individual champion (2006, 2009, 2012) and team champion in 2006, scored the best time of the night for the jack man position with a time of 5.291 seconds. To note, Seminara and Barber are two-time individual champions (2009 and 2012). Each individual champion scored a $10,000 bonus for their performance.
2012 Team Champion – No. 48 My Lowe’s Chevrolet
Jackman TJ Ford (Charlotte, N.C.)
Gas Man Brandon Harder (Oak Harbor, Ohio)
Front-Tire Changer Dave Collins (Riverside, Calif.)
Front-Tire Carrier RJ Barnette (Pinson, Ala.)
Rear-Tire Changer Calvin Teague (Taylorsville, N.C.)
Rear-Tire Carrier Matt Tyrrell (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
2012 Individual Champions
Car Skill Name Time
5 Jack Man Jeff Kerr (Salisbury, N.C.) 5.291
18 Gas Man Tom Lampe (Odell, N.C.) 8.610*
31 Front Tire Changer/Carrier Tim Sheets (Indianapolis, Ind.)
JD Holcomb (Whitesburg, Ky.) 13.615*
18 Rear Tire Changer/Carrier Jake Seminara (Steubenville, Ohio)
Kenny Barber (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) 13.073*
*denotes new individual record
