April 21st, 2010 
T.C. If you got to watch the races on Monday from Texas you may have heard the TV guys talking about the drivers who had to do double duty. Guys like Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, and others got out of their Cup rides and had to immediately jump into their Nationwide cars for another 300 miles. It can be a tough thing to do as it requires the drivers be in top shape, and have the ability to re-focus their minds after 500 grueling miles. But what the TV folks probably didn’t talk about a lot, was all the crew guys who did the same exact thing.
Just like there are drivers who run in multiple series, there are also quite a few crew members who work in multiple series. Usually it’s not a problem to do, because the races aren’t on the same day, but Monday was different.
Following the Cup race at Texas, crew guys had to pack up their pit box and then run to their Cup haulers to strip off their firesuits. They then had to head over to their NNS haulers to put firesuits back on and proceed back to pit road to set up their NNS pit box. Teams had about an hour to work with following the first race to get changed and set up their pit stalls for the nightcap.
One example of what I’m talking about is the Furniture Row pit crew. Those five guys pit Regan Smith’s car on Sunday, but on Saturday they work for KHI and service Kevin Harvick’s Nationwide car. Some more examples include three of the five guys that work on Kyle Busch’s Cup car. Both front guys and the rear changer also work on Kyle’s pit crew on Saturdays. And there are certainly others.
What this really means for these crew guys is being 100% focused. It means doing 10 pit stops during the Cup race, then getting a quick break, followed by four more pit stops in the Nationwide race. Oh yeah, and don’t screw it up.
Another group that did double duty on Monday that I wanted to point out was the spotters. The double header for the Cup guys running in the Nationwide race also meant twice the work for their spotters. They had to work for 500 miles, take a quick break, then get ready to work 300 more.
What really sucks about double duty though, is having to do it again a week later. With the way the forecast is shaping up for Talladega, it may be deja vu all over again.
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TC-your article reminded me of something I keep meaning to ask w/ regards to pit stops, especially w/ a crew servicing a NW car vs a Cup COT on the same day. I assume the basic premice of the stop is the same. However, are there differences between the two as in wheel/tire sizes and/or vehicle weights? Clearance between the ground and jack post for the jackman? Fuel and vent port elevations for the fuel guys? Etc, etc.
In other words do you pit a COT and it seems like your working on a bus compared to a NW car being a Corvette?
Neon: It’s not quite as bad as a bus vs. a corvette, but there are small differences. The wheels and tires are the same, there are no differences in weight or size. I don’t quite know how big of a difference there is for the fuel guys, but there definitely is one. The things that really stand out right now in my mind are the wheel openings and the jack post. The weight balance of a COT is a little different then an NNS car so the jack post is slightly different, and the wheel openings on the rear of a Nationwide car are much smaller then they are on a COT. Tire carriers have to be much more careful and precise when hanging the rears. Other then those few things, the transition isn’t quite as bad as you may expect.
You didn’t mention that most had to turn around and go straight to that Indy Tire test and then to Talladega. I guess that’s why they get paid the big bucks though huh.
BIG PROPS!!!!
Today during the race, the announcers quoted this website and this thread by name regarding this issue … CONGRATULATIONS!!!
PS
I tried to come here right after they said it, but the site was down, I thought maybe the publicity crashed the site.