Crew Chief Club at Atlanta

Crew Chief Club at the NAPA 500

Event: NAPA 500 When: Sun., Nov. 21 at 12:30 p.m. EST on ESPN Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile quad-oval)

Together, Jimmy Makar, Larry McReynolds, Todd Parrott and Robin Pemberton have led their drivers to 74 wins, 407 top-five finishes, 642 top-10 finishes and 76 poles prior to this Sunday's NAPA 500.

Parrott and Dale Jarrett clinched the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship with a fifth place finish last week at Homestead - Miami Speedway. With that, Parrott becomes the first Crew Chief Club member to earn a championship as a crew chief.

The Crew Chief Club has three wins and two poles in the fall Atlanta race. The wins were provided by Makar and Labonte in 1997 and 1996, and Pemberton and Mark Martin in 1991. The poles were provided by Makar and Labonte in 1996, and Makar and Rusty Wallace in 1990.

In last year's NAPA 500, the Crew Chief Club finished in the following order:

Parrott/Jarrett Start: 3rd Finish: 2nd Status: Running McReynolds/Skinner Start: 5th Finish: 9th Status: Running Pemberton/Wallace Start: 18th Finish: 20th Status: Running Makar/Labonte Start: 7th Finish: 43rd Status: Engine Crew Chief Club souvenirs are available on the Chevrolet and Ford merchandise trailers. Fans can also log-on to the Crew Chief Club at their official website, www.crewchiefclub.com to keep up with the latest news.

WHAT IS YOUR RACE AND PIT STRATEGY FOR ATLANTA?

Jimmy Makar - Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte - "Strategy-wise it could be a fuel mileage race. We don't tend to get a lot of cautions. You have to do green flag pit stops typically there, so fuel mileage is important and getting a good stop on the green flag stops. Typically, you'll have a guy or two that sits out there and runs really good throughout the race, and puts a lot of cars a lap down. You don't want to get caught in that position where you're in danger of going a lap down during a long stretch of green flag racing. The key is to keep the leader in sight, stay on the lead lap, adjust your car as the race goes on and have good stops."

Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "You're racing the race track and you're racing the tire situation with what we've seen the past few races there. Once we get down there and get some rubber on the race track, we can get the tires to go a full fuel stop without the drivers and crews worrying about it. Hopefully, it won't rain there to where the rain is washing the off what we put down. You're just racing the race track, and trying to keep the tires on it and not blow a tire and hit the wall."

Todd Parrott - Ford Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford of Dale Jarrett - "It's a fast race track, a lot of things happen real quick. Race strategy is to have a good handling car. Fuel mileage will come into effect there too. Other than that, we've run well there and are looking forward to closing out our championship season in style."

Robin Pemberton - Miller Lite Ford of Rusty Wallace - "Atlanta is going to be real hard on tires. Strategy is to do what the leaders do, or hopefully you can force the issue. Goodyear, I'm sure, will bring a good tire there, so you run as long as you can on your tires. It will probably be a four-tire-stop race track."