For the second year running in North Wilkesboro, the All-Star race weekend will begin with the pit crew challenge on Friday afternoon. The contenders will take the green flag and drive one full lap around the 0.625-mile track. They’ll move to the pit road before the second lap and make a four-tire change and refuel (mock) in one of NASCAR’s designated pit stalls.
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When the stop is done, the cars will resume their race to the checkered flag. The qualifying time will be the total duration from the green flag to the checkered flag. There are multiple purposes to this challenge. First, the pole sitter will start from the top for Heat Race 1 and the All-Star race. Second, the results of the challenge will determine the order of the pit picking.
Atop all this, the pit crew with the fastest stop will be awarded a prize of $100,000. In the Pit Crew Challenge’s history, Richard Childress Racing has won the award seven times. Notably, the challenge was conducted every year since 1967 before it was stopped in 2012. It resumed in 2023 and is set to get its 46th edition running on Friday. The crew of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs won it last year.
Ty Gibbs’s #54 Toyota Camry crew won the Pit Crew Challenge in 2023
The #54 Joe Gibbs Racing crew posted a 13.012-second pit stop during the challenge to win the $100,000 prize money. The crew included rear tire changer Mike Hicks, front tire changer Blake Houston, tire carrier Jacob Holmes, jackman Derrell Edwards and fueler Peyton Moore. The pit crew coach Brian Haaland was justifiably pleased with the work of his men.
He said to NASCAR, “It’s huge. These guys put in so much work that people don’t see. Most of the time when things go wrong, it gets highlighted. So it’s nice that they were able to perform in a really intense environment out there against all their peers and run the fastest pit stop.” Continuing, he attributed Gibbs for doing his part in placing the car in the right spot and quipped that it was a team effort.
Trackhouse Racing’s #99 crew came second with a 13.297-second stop. Chris Buescher’s #17 RFK Racing team was third with a 13.381-second stop. The pit crews of Joe Gibbs Racing have been performing at peak capacity since the beginning of the 2024 season. Expectations are that one of the four crews in the Gibbs camp end up winning the Pit Crew Challenge this year as well.
