Grubb Wins Crew Chief Award
Preparing for the marathon Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway had crew chiefs strategizing tires, fuel consumption and endurance of the car. For crew chief, Darian Grubb, and the No. 25 National Guard team the game plan focused on fuel conservation. With the three other drivers from Hendrick Motorsports receiving all of the praise over the past few weeks, Grubb and his driver, Casey Mears, were out to earn some of their own glory. And that they did, with Mears picking up his first Nextel Cup win and Grubb’s first as a full time crew chief on the No. 25 team. For his strategic fuel strategy and his excellent race day call, Grubb won the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race.

Starting his No. 25 Chevrolet from the 16th, Mears maintained strong positioning throughout the race, cracking into the top five with 72 laps remaining. As the leaders jostled for positions in front of him, Grubb instructed his driver to be steady on the gas pedal and conserve fuel. Mears followed orders and while falling back a few positions on the track, the strategy begun to unfold as one by one, drivers in front of Mears began to duck into pit road for a splash of Sunoco to get them to the finish line. With six laps remaining, Mears took the lead and eventually the checkered flag, praising Grubb for his fuel strategy. “It was an excellent call,” said Mears of Grubb’s instruction to conserve his fuel.

For Grubb, in his first year as a full time crew chief on the Hendrick Motorsports team, he was especially proud to win on this holiday weekend. “It is really special to me winning on Memorial Day weekend,” said Grubb at the conclusion of the race. “Myself and the team really want to remember the folks who have given their lives for the country. The win is also special for Casey as this is his first.”

A panel of voters, including a member of the local media, Tony Eury Jr., Kenny Francis, Robbie Reiser and a WYPALL* Wipers representative, were unanimous in selecting Grubb as the crew chief of the race. “The Hendrick team once again shows us how dominant they have been all year,” said Francis. “It was a great gutsy call by Darian to keep Casey on the track when everybody else in front of him were pulling in. He had obviously calculated down to the last drop and knew he could go all the way.”

As the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race, Grubb received $1,000. Earning his first crew chief of the race award puts Grubb tied for second place in the overall standings. Robbie Reiser and Chad Knaus are tied for first, each with two wins. Larry Carter, Mike Ford, Alan Gustafson, Chip Bolin, Ryan Pemberton, Donnie Wingo and Tony Eury Jr. each have one win. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most wins will receive $20,000 and be crowned WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Year.

Race And Commercial Breakdown For The Coca-Cola 600
Total number of commercials: 170
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 95
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 42

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 34 (companies: Coke Zero, www.mycokerewards.com, Auto Zone, Chevy, Nextel, Allstate, State Farm, Havoline, Ford, Subway, GoodYear, FedEx, Wendy’s, DLP, AT&T, Coors Light, DirecTV, Toyota, Tom Jensen ‘the answer man’ at Fox Sports, UPS, UPS sponsors fantasy racing at foxsports.com, NAPA, Vitamin Water, Burger King, Comcast, KFC, Lowes, Hamburger Helper, Home Depot, Miller Lite, Dodge, Baseball on Fox, autismspeaks 400 race at Dover, Jamster.com:http://www.jamster.com)

Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 3 min. 45 sec.

How much time was spent in the Hollywood Hotel this week: Some fans have been complaining about how much time Fox spends with Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond in the Hollywood Hotel while the racing is on. Generally these breaks only occur during cautions, or if during green-flag racing, they keep the camera on the racing and it is just voice-overs by Myers and Hammond. Many times the broadcast is begun with Myers and Hammond, briefly seen in the Hotel interspersed with shots of pit road, the audience, and the cars on the track. For this particular race, we were only briefly in the Hollywood Hotel, and that was during the course of two cautions.

Also, there are the following race statistics during the broadcast, sponsored by companies:

AutoZone ‘Drive ‘n Ride’
FedEx ‘Race Trax’
Budweiser ‘Bud Pole Award’
AT&T/Cingular ‘Virtual Crew Chief Question’
Toyota ‘Top Performers of the Race’
Ford ‘Cut-Away Car’ http://www.foxsports.com/cutaway
Ford ‘Bold Moves’
State Farm Safety Report
DLP ‘Picture Cam’
DLP ‘Amazing Moment’
NAPA ‘Race Summary’
Dewalt ‘In-Car’
FedEx ‘In-Car’
Nextel ‘Getting it Done Call of the Race’
Chevrolet ‘In-Car’
Allstate ‘Good Hands Driver Award’
Chevy ‘Winning Moment’

Start time to record race/commercial periods 05/05/07: 5:30 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods 05/05/07: 10:28PM

Total minutes: 298
Minutes of race broadcast: 226
Minutes of commercials: 72...MORE AT...(http://www.cawsnjaws.com/)

Tire Performed As Expected
While several drivers complained about the hard tire that Goodyear brought to Lowe's Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600, the manufacturer said that the performance of the tire in the race was in line with expectations. Sunday night's race showcased an unusual number of cut tires, an official said, as well as a heat problem causing Greg Biffle's tire to fail.

Several drivers complained about various aspects of the tire, raising concerns varying from inconsistency from set to set with the tires to complaining about the hard compound that made it tough to get any grip on the track.

Goodyear brought a harder left-side tire than drivers saw at the track in the fall to make sure that the tires held up on the track that was repaved prior to the 2006 season. While drivers understood the safety concession, that didn't stop the comments. Goodyear officials, though, maintained that the race played out as expected.

"Tire performance was exactly what we expected from a wear and temperature perspective," Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales said. "In fact, Kurt Busch ran the first 140 laps of the race on a single set of tires. There were an unusually high number of cut tires during the Cup race -- we counted seven. In addition, several tires were damaged by contact and we had one melted bead as a result of excessive brake heat on the No. 16 [of Biffle]."(scenedaily.com)