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Jeff Gordon's crew chief, Steve Letarte spent some time with Fox Sports Radio's Craig Shemon and James Washington to discuss Thursday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Pit Crew Challenge. Letarte was asked if guys on the pit crew can get released: "You know, the pit crew guys, a lot's changed in 10 years. 10 years ago there were guys that worked in your shop, they didn't even get paid, they were volunteers to come pit the car. Well, now they're paid athletes. And with that pay, and with that lucrative side of the sport, comes the pressure. Not one pit stop would a guy lose his job, but if he gets in a bad string, and he gets either a bad attitude, or he can't go out and do the job, then we'll make changes. Hendrick Motor Sports, we have more than seven pit crew guys on the 24. We have nine or ten guys. And the reason is we have backups, we have spares, we have second string. And that's super important to have because guys can't always go out and be consistent. I'm a big preacher of preparation. In my opinion if you work out hard in the gym, and you work out hard with the trainers, and you work out hard at practice, then a mistake on pit road is a mistake. But if you slack in the gym and you slack with those trainers, then that mistake on pit road is poor preparation. And you won't be around for very long with poor preparation." -- Fox Sports Radio


FOX Sports on MSN: Jeff Gordon, Sprint Cup