Ryan Newman’s fifth-place finish Sunday at Michigan International Speedway – the No. 39 Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet team’s eighth top five of the 2011 season – strengthened Newman’s hold on a possible qualifying spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Newman advanced from eighth to seventh in the standings, 77 points behind standings leader and Pure Michigan 400 winner Kyle Busch.
The performance also gave the Tony Gibson-led team a pair of special awards under the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Prize Money & Decal Program. For earning the lowest average of qualifying result and race finish, Gibson claimed the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Race Award. Newman won the Mobil1 Driver of the Race Award as the highest finishing eligible driver.
Among those contributing to Sunday’s efforts was the team’s second engineer, Wesley Gantt, who has called his position a dream job on several levels. First, he communicates with a driver, Newman, who shares the same educational background.
“Ryan’s ability to look at the data and interpret it (as an engineer) helps out,” said Gantt.
Gantt, who lives in Taylorsville, N.C., also spends most weekends with his father – although at opposite ends of the garage. Rickie Gantt is a longtime NASCAR Nationwide Series inspector.
“We get to see each other some. He’s pretty busy and I’m pretty busy,” said Gantt, 37. “It’s kind of neat to be doing the same thing (racing) as your dad.”
Although Gantt had been a NASCAR fan since childhood, a job in stock car racing wasn’t his long-term goal. A self-described tinkerer with anything mechanical, Gantt at his parents’ urging, enrolled in the University of North Carolina Charlotte where he earned an engineering degree.
Upon graduation, Gantt went to work as a general engineer for the DANA Corp. in Statesville, N.C. but found himself at a career crossroads when the firm closed those offices and offered relocation. That’s when Gantt seriously considered a NASCAR engineering job, which he found in 2004 at Haas CNC Racing, now Stewart Haas Racing.
Television viewers often see Gantt – and others in similar positions up and down pit road – atop pit boxes working over computer keyboards. His primary job is data entry and interpretation but Gantt also monitors and helps forecast incoming weather, a significant responsibility over the past three weekends at Pocono, Watkins Glen and in Michigan.
Gantt has seen numerous changes in the sport since the introduction of NASCAR’s new car in 2007 and the end of official testing. As a member of the SHR engineering staff, he oversees a variety of simulations and has been in charge of the team’s seven-post shaker chassis rig.
“You definitely have to hit the race track pretty close,” said Gantt about the set-up, noting that every team in the garage has virtually the same equipment. “You don’t have a very big window to work in.”
Gantt is proud of being part of Newman’s two recent wins, at Phoenix in 2010 and in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Phoenix always will be special because it was Gantt’s first victory as a NASCAR Sprint Cup team member. But showing his competitive streak, he ranks Loudon a bit higher on the scale of success “because we sat on the pole, led a lot of laps and had a good car.”
Next on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, with three races remaining before the 12 qualifiers for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup are determined is Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, ABC).
Official winners of this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Prize Money & Decal Program special awards include:
· AMERICAN ETHANOL GREEN FLAG RESTART: Matt Kenseth
· COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Greg Biffle (190.345 mph, 37.826 secs,)
· DIRECTV CREW CHIEF OF THE RACE AWARD: Tony Gibson (crew chief for Ryan Newman)
· GOODYEAR GATORBACK BELTS FASTEST LAP AWARD: Greg Biffle (187.568 mph, Lap 2)
· MAHLE CLEVITE ENGINE BUILDER OF THE RACE AWARD: Mark Cronquist, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 18
· MOBIL 1 OIL DRIVER OF THE RACE AWARD: Ryan Newman
· MOOG CHASSIS PARTS PROBLEM SOLVER OF THE RACE AWARD: Chad Knaus, 0.066 secs (crew chief for Jimmie Johnson)
· O’REILLY AUTO PARTS POSITION IMPROVEMENT AWARD: Clint Bowyer (27 places)
· SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD: Andy Lally
NASCAR PR
