Castroneves and Penske crew celebrate Pit Stop Challenge win

Thousands of fans watched as the pit crew of Helio Castroneves won the annual Pit Stop Challenge on pit lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 24.

Two days before the 97th Indianapolis 500, the Penske Racing pit crew for Helio Castroneves is celebrating their win in the Pit Stop Challenge held on pit lane May 24.

Both Castroneves and his team climbed the fence in celebration of their record 6th win in the annual competition, and 14th overall for Penske Racing.

Teams were competing in four tire pit stops, and a quick drag race out of the pits in an elimination style competition.

Castroneves' crew completed their final stop in 14.475 including the car driving in and pulling away, beating the Target Chip Ganassi Dario Franchitti, who entered a time of 14.854.

"For me to be sitting here again, it's so credit for the entire Team Penske. The reason I say that, it's not only from the Group No. 3 but also the 12 and the 2, because when they go into the shop, they practice day in and day out. And they end up keep pushing each other," said Castroneves. "We do have the best guys in the business."

Castroneves' crew chief Sean Hanrahan said he was happy with the crews performance.

"We practice a lot at the shop when we can. It doesn't always happen when we want it to, but we work hard at it and we've got a dedicated car for it," said Hanrahan. "Shaun Rinaman is actually our pit stop manager, so we do what we can and, luckily, today everyone just kept digging. We overcame a problem out there and nobody gave up, and that was very important."

For the win, the crew will split a $50,000 prize for their efforts. Castroneves' crew is made up of John Erickson, John Turpin, Sean Hanrahan, Doug Snyder, Gary Yingst, Mike Brown, Gary Prall, Casey Easton and Jonathan Dugan.

While Castroneves was only able to manage the 28th fastest time in Carb Day Practice, he said this win in the Pit Stop Challenge will give the team momentum heading into the big show Sunday.

"It's a fantastic momentum for all of them. I am extremely excited to carry this momentum for Sunday. Today we had a very good practice, even that the time doesn't show, but we feel we were very close to everybody," said Castroneves. "We unfortunately had a short gear and the weather was a little bit cooler, and so we create a lot of power in the Chevy engine."