Matt McCall, crew chief for Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet SS, won the MOOG Steering and Suspension brand’s “Problem Solver of the Race” award following the team’s top-10 finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway.
McCall’s weekly MOOG award gives him two for the season, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. crew chief Greg Ives, with five Problem Solver wins, maintained his lead in the battle for the $100,000 MOOG “Problem Solver of the Year” award. MOOG is the Official Steering and Suspension of NASCAR.
The weekly and year-end Problem Solver awards are sponsored by global vehicle components manufacturer Federal-Mogul Motorparts. The Problem Solver of the Race award is presented to the crew chief whose car posts the greatest second-half improvement in average lap time while finishing on the lead lap. The $100,000 Problem Solver of the Year award goes to the crew chief with the most weekly wins throughout the 36-race Sprint Cup season.
McMurray started 27th but spent most of the afternoon in the top 10 as McCall and the Chip Ganassi Racing crew continually enhanced the performance of the MOOG-equipped Chevrolet. The 1 car ran as high as fourth late in the race and posted an event-high 0.164-second-per-lap improvement over the final 167 laps. The race was won in thrilling fashion by Jimmie Johnson and the MOOG-equipped No. 48 Chevrolet SS, which pulled off a late-race pass of otherwise dominant Brad Keselowski, who led all but 22 laps.
“Our congratulations go out to Matt McCall on his second MOOG Problem Solver win and to Jimmie Johnson for showing that anything can happen at the end of a race,” said Tim Nelson, director of motorsports for Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “We’re expecting an equally tight finish to our year-long battle for the prestigious MOOG Problem Solver trophy. It looks like we’re down to two crew chiefs, both of whom have distinguished themselves throughout 2015.”
With just two races remaining, Ives holds a one-win advantage over Justin Alexander, crew chief for Paul Menard and the No. 27 Chevrolet. Nine crew chiefs, including McCall, are three wins back.
