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Pit Crew of the Year
I have to go with Tony Stewart's pit crew. An example of how good these guys are came in the Sept. 18 race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Stewart had a dominant car that day, finishing second to Ryan Newman in the first of 10 races in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.
Over the course of the 300-mile race at Loudon, Stewart led for 173 laps, and I recall that he made six or seven pit stops and never lost a position. That's the kind of super strong effort in the pits that helped Stewart become a Cup champion again.
At Homestead-Miami Speedway in the last race of 2005, Stewart's car struggled, and so there was a lot of heat on his pit crew to make changes to the car in a flawless fashion as crew chief Greg Zipadelli sought answers to improve the running of the No. 20 Chevrolet. The pit crew responded without error, and they helped Stewart, who finished 15th in the race, lock up the Cup championship.
There are pit crews that come through solidly most of the time, but Stewart's pit crew seemed to do so just about all of the time.
Rookie of the Year
Kyle Busch, who is the brother of 2004 Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, is my choice. Kyle won twice in 2005, getting to Victory Lane for the first time in September at California Speedway, and then winning again in November at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kyle finished a very impressive 20th in the points standings after a season in which besides the two wins, he posted nine top-fives, 13 top-10s, and also captured one pole.
Kyle is an extremely talented driver. I find more similarities than differences in the Busch brothers. Kurt and Kyle seem to be brothers in every sense of the word. They have a tremendous feel for a race car, and they have an aggressive approach to racing.
Heading into 2006, Kyle knows he can win Cup races because he has already done so. He and the crew of the No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports are very optimistic about the future as well they should be. Kyle's got a ton of potential, but he's still learning, and so he's only going to get better.
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