Who said that the NASCAR Garage 56 entry wasn’t going to do anything at Le Mans?
The Hendrick Motorsports Crew was on the top step of the podium on Tuesday after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans Pit Stop Challenge. The team finished fifth overall, but topped 16 teams in the GTE class.
The five-person over-the-wall crew changed four Goodyear Eagle tires in 10.364 seconds. Runner-up Northwest AMR was 0.12 second slower. The Hendrick squad was just 0.3 second from the overall all-class win.
The Hendrick Motorsports pit crew celebrate’s Thursday’s win at Le Mans.
Chris Graythen//Getty Images
The crew includes Dawson Backus (front tire changer), Mike Moss (rear tire changer), Donovan Williams (jackman), Cody French (front tire carrier) and Jarius Morehead (rear tire carrier). All five compete for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series.
It was actually our fastest stop of the day, so I would say I was surprised, but also very pleased,” said Hendrick Motorsports Pit Crew coach Evan Kureczka. “You can tell the fans were very impressed with the fact that we were using a jack to jack the car up. You could see the smiles on their faces, we put on a great show for the fans.”
Even more impressive is the fact it was the team’s first time working together in a competition setting.
“Over the past eight months we’ve put this team together and we’ve rolled with them the entire time and knew this is what we were going to bring to Le Mans, but we had to get them up to speed together,” Kureczka said.
“This is a special moment to be able to represent Hendrick Motorsports, represent our families, America and NASCAR as a whole,” said Williams. the team’s jackman. “We just relied on our training and it came into place instinctively. I think we all just went out there and performed and didn’t think too much. “
Mike Pryson
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
Keyword: NASCAR Garage 56 Entry Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans ... Pit Stop Competition