{"id":315749,"date":"2025-11-30T04:50:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T04:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/315749\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T04:50:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T04:50:56","slug":"chase-elliotts-no-9-team-named-2025-most-valuable-pit-crew-in-nascar-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/315749\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Elliott’s No. 9 team named 2025 Most Valuable Pit Crew in NASCAR playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONCORD, N.C. \u2013\u00a0Mechanix Wear named Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 No. 9 pit crew<\/a> the 2025 Most Valuable Pit Crew for their performance in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mechanix Wear MVPC\u00a0Award evaluates performance through a playoff-based metric system\u00a0that considers factors\u00a0such as pit stop speed, positions gained or lost on pit road and overall strength of each pit stop.\u00a0\u00a0 \n <\/p>\n

For the No. 9 pit crew, the unique postseason challenge\u00a0became\u00a0a\u00a0stage for excellence. Not\u00a0only\u00a0did the group deliver consistent strong performances throughout the playoffs, but they also ranked first in pit crew standings for the entirety of the 2025 season<\/a>. This\u00a0award\u00a0is a testament to their precision and teamwork from start to finish.\u00a0\u00a0 \n <\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 pit department head coach, Jacob\u00a0Claborn\u00a0credited the group\u2019s resilience for setting them apart from\u00a0others on pit road.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Corey Day to drive full time for Hendrick\u00a0Motorsports in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis crew has been through a lot this year, including a change on the team,\u201d said Claborn.\u00a0\u201cIt has been great to work with the guys and watch\u00a0them rise to the occasion every time an opportunity presents itself on Sundays.\u00a0The\u00a0No. 9\u00a0pit crew<\/a> brings experience to everything they do. The moment is never too big for\u00a0them,\u00a0and they have experienced\u00a0both the highs of success and the lows of setbacks. Through these moments, they have been able to build their speed over time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coach Claborn\u2019s words reflect the group\u2019s chemistry and\u00a0readiness under pressure, which are qualities that have defined the No. 9 team. That experience and leadership were on full display during the playoffs\u00a0where their performance helped keep No. 9 driver Chase Elliott<\/a> in contention\u00a0each race.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elliott, who finished the\u00a0season\u00a0eighth in the points standings<\/a> after advancing into the Round of 8, praised\u00a0his crew for its dedication and consistency. Despite the adversity it faced, the group continued to deliver\u00a0when it mattered the most.\u00a0\u00a0 \n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely proud of our whole group,\u201d said Elliott. \u201cThey did an exceptional job all year, and\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0touched on how impressed I was at Phoenix and the drive to want to continue to work hard and lay it all out there, even though we\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0in the playoffs. They just had an\u00a0incredible performance on pit road and an amazing way to cap off the season.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0extremely grateful for their attitudes, their approach, how they pick me up when\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0down or whatever it\u00a0takes,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0willing\u00a0to rise to the occasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“To have won that award with some of the pit stalls they had this year\u00a0probably won\u2019t\u00a0get talked about, but it should because they were put in some horrendous positions throughout the season and throughout the playoffs. All those things, they continue\u00a0to\u00a0exemplify how much of a top-tier\u00a0group they\u00a0are\u00a0and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0proud to have them.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to going back to battle with them again next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Hendrick Motorsports crew members share college football bonds<\/a><\/p>\n

Veteran fueler John\u00a0Gianninoto\u00a0has been part of the team since\u00a0Hendrick Motorsports<\/a> introduced\u00a0the car number in\u00a02018. His perspective\u00a0reinforces\u00a0how much this recognition means to a team that has grown and evolved together each season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe award means a lot,\u201d Gianninoto said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0nice to be recognized for something that we work very\u00a0hard at\u00a0every single week and in the offseason. I think from day one of\u00a0being together we knew that we would\u00a0gel\u00a0well together.\u00a0Behind the scenes,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0learned how we can encourage each other the right way through teamwork\u00a0and communication.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0nice to know everyone has each other\u2019s back and after enough time together it feels like pitting with brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CONCORD, N.C. \u2013\u00a0Mechanix Wear named Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 No. 9 pit crew the 2025 Most Valuable Pit Crew for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-315749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}