CONCORD, N.C. -- With the DAYTONA 500 less than three weeks away, members of Hendrick Motorsports’ performance teams worked together to create a pit crew scrimmage to prep the entire crews for the upcoming season.
Much like spring scrimmage game in college football, the pit crew athletes from all four Hendrick Motorsports teams assembled for a competition to see who performed the best pit stops. It took a month to organize the entire scrimmage, which took place at Hendrick Motorsports’ practice pit pad.
“We’ve talked about this in the past,” pit crew coach Chris Burkey said. “It’s just something that we’ve never had time to do, it seems like. But we just focused in this year and said, ‘Hey, we really want to put this together.’ It’s been a long process for us to get all these guys through the quality reps and the amount of reps, and (make sure) everybody’s equal. That was the hardest thing.”
Burkey said the scrimmage was analyzed on paper from all angles to make sure the organization was being proactive with its time and resources. Drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson were on hand to help, and the scrimmage allowed them to get used to new members who will be working with them during the DAYTONA 500 and beyond.
Jesse Saunders, the car chief for Larson and the No. 5 team, said the scrimmage was crucial for their crew since Larson and several members are brand new to the organization.
“We tried to get it ready like we would for a normal race,” Saunders said. “Having Kyle come, sit in the car and drive it is huge. We can work through any bugs to make sure he’s comfortable so when we arrive in Daytona, we’re ready. That’s what leads us into what we get out of this.
“It’s not just working through our pit crew guys and the guys behind the wall, but also getting Kyle comfortable, getting him used to us and (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels’) voice, his pit sign and trying to get as many aspects as we so there’s nothing he hasn’t seen nor felt when we roll into Daytona.”
The scrimmage also serves as a personal test for the crew members. The crew and cars chiefs look to see how the athletes work under pressure and how they gel with their drivers. Both Burkey and Saunders said the biggest trait they look for is a quality tempo in each individual’s performance.
“Sometimes guys will kind of overstress themselves a little bit when (it’s) time to step up like this, but we try to mimic out here, as much as we can, the racetrack,” Burkey said. “Situations like this and having this environment, that is the closest thing we can get to the racetrack. So, you really look for those guys who can embrace the moment, settle in, do nice, quality work, and just be consistent.”
While the scrimmage was a friendly competition, the No. 48 team was declared the winner of the best pit stops. To see all four of Hendrick Motorsports’ pit crews in action for the DAYTONA 500, tune in Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.