Gordon's pit crew edges Martin's for '07 championship
Jeff Gordon lost the championship to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, but his No. 24 over-the-wall crew beat Mark Martin's No. 01 crew in a tiebreaker to capture the 2007 pit crew championship.
The crews of Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin ended the season with four wins apiece in the contest to have the fastest times during the races, with the No. 24 winning because of a higher finish in the Nextel Cup point standings. Jeff Gordon was second and part-time Cup driver Mark Martin was 27th.
The winning crew will split a purse of $155,150 from sponsors Checkers/Rally's.
The No. 24 crew consists of jackman Jeff Cook, front tire carrier Mike "Tiny" Houston, front tire changer Clay Robinson, rear tire carrier Jeff Knight, rear tire changer Kevin Gilman, gasman Caleb Hurd, catch can man Jamie Frady and eighth man Andy Kruep. The pit crew coach is Matt Clark, and Mike Atwell also was listed after filling in for Gilman for several races.
"The No. 24 DuPont pit crew did an amazing job all year," crew chief Steve Letarte said. "They were consistently fast and didn't miss a beat when changes were made to the lineup due to injuries."
Roush team has top rookie driver again
David Ragan gave car owner Jack Roush his third straight rookie title and fourth since 2001 in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Ragan beat Australian Marcos Ambrose by just 27 points to join Roush drivers Danny O'Quinn Jr. (2006), Carl Edwards (2005) and Greg Biffle (2001) in taking rookie honors in the developmental series.
Ragan finished the Busch season with two poles, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a career-best third-place run at Memphis. He finished fifth in the series standings while also racing full-time in Nextel Cup, where he was 23rd overall for what is now Roush Fenway Racing.
Ambrose was eighth in the Busch points, becoming the first non-North American driver to finish in the top 10 in any of NASCAR's three national championship divisions.
The last non-United States driver to achieve the feat was Canadian Earl Ross, who finished eighth in the Cup standings in 1974.
Ragan also finished second, 24 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia in the rookie standings in Cup.
In the Craftsman Truck Series, the top rookie was Willie Allen, who finished just eight points ahead of Tim Sauter.
Pit stops
? Jimmie Johnson's championship was worth $1 million to an insurance claims adjuster from Las Vegas.
When Johnson finished seventh on Sunday in Homestead, Fla., wrapping up his second straight Nextel Cup title, he made Terri Randall an instant millionaire in the SprintSpeed Million presented by Motorola.
Randall selected Johnson as the driver she thought would win the Chase for the championship in the online contest.
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