ROCKINGHAM, NC (November 2, 2002) -- The No. 17 DEWALT Power Tools Pit Crew won the 76 UNOCAL World Pit Crew Competition for the second year in a row. The team led by crew chief Robbie Reiser, driver Matt Kenseth, and pit crew coordinator Andy Ward pulled off a 16.832 second pit stop - shattering the world record of 17.695 they set last year to win the $40,000 prize.

The 2002 World Champion crew consists of jackman Russ Strupp, gasman Benjy Grubbs, front tire changer Phil Drye, front tire carrier Justin Nottestad, rear tire carrier Bryan Dunaway, rear tire changer Dave Smith, and Dave Paronto on catch can. Other members of the team (who do not go over the wall) on hand were Ed Young, Jim Guadette, Dan Walkup, Chip Bolin, Matt Millard, Todd Millard, Jeff Vandermoss and Randy Stack, Mike Calinoff and Chip Bolin.

"These guys are awesome, and they deserve it," said driver Matt Kenseth. "It is all about one pit stop, but these guys have done it over and over on pit road all year, and they won this again for the second year in a row."

"We all work together, and have fun together," explained Robbie Reiser. "I remember when we all started, we were all new at this. We've stayed together and just kept practicing and these guys have shown they are capable of winning the race off pit road week in and out."

The last time the pit crew championship was won back to back was in 1984 with Dale Earnhardt's crew in the late 80's.

One factor Kenseth's crew did not have last year was pit crew coordinator Andy Ward. The addition of Ward to Roush Racing has been a positive addition since Mark Martin's team placed second, Kurt Busch's team was third, and Jeff Burton's team placed sixth.

When asked how Ward  tackled the task of training all four Roush teams for the weekly pit road battles, he replied “We have a lot of talent at Roush. I just basically try to keep the groups together and try to reinforce good training habits as far as exercise and conditioning. I just tried to reinforce the good crews our crew chiefs had already built."

Jack Roush was also on hand for the good showing of his teams.  "Andy (Ward) is the coach for all the teams. The crew chiefs decided last year, and I supported it, that we needed to have a full time coach. We upped our practice from one time a day to two times a day, three days a week to get ready for this. There are a couple of things to note as we go through here, the kind of depth we've got, these guys work together and the practice together. It wasn't so long ago that I wasn't sure if these racecar mechanics would still be able to change tires. If you remember we had an influx of college athletes that came through that didn't have the mechanical aptitude that these guys have. These guys work every day on the cars and they have the duality in their function. Its wonderful that they've been able to challenge one another and rise to the level that the professional athletes brought. They are the best of the best. I couldn't be prouder of them.”

The DEWALT team will have little time to allow the victory in the pit crew competition sink in as it will be business as usual less than 24 hours later. They will try to sweep the races at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham for the year and back up their spring win on Sunday in the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400.