Jr's crew takes over in tight points battle.

Dale Earnhardt Jr's pit crew captured the Phoenix round of the McDonald's Drive-Thru Pit Championship fuelled by POWERade. The victory lifted the #8 team into first place in the pit crew standings with two races remaining in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule.

It was the fourth McDonald's/POWERade win for the #8 crew and, in three of those victories, Earnhardt also won the race, adding to Richmond and Talladega. The McDonald's/POWERade point standings also got shuffled following the Phoenix race, with Earnhardt's team moving from third to first, swapping place with Elliott Sadler's crew. Tony Stewart's team remains in second, three points out of the lead.

Earnhardt's Budweiser Chevrolet spent the least amount of time on Phoenix International Raceway's pit-road, with a time of 285.50secs. Greg Biffle's National Guard Ford was second at 325.98secs and Jeff Burton's AOL Chevy third with 329.87secs.

"Great team, great car, great pit-stops," Earnhardt said following his Phoenix victory, "What else can you say? I'm really proud of these guys for not giving up this year. We had awesome pit-stops all day, and Tony Eury Sr did a great job making the calls from the pits. Whether it was the decision to take four [tyres], or the decision to stay out when I was hollerin' on the radio to pit, Tony Sr and Tony Jr - and the whole team - earned their stripes."

The #8 over-the-wall crew consists of Jeff Clarke, Kevin Pennell, Phil Drye, Danny Earnhardt, Greg Burkhart, Troy Prince and Craig Lund. Tony Eury Sr is the crew chief, while Eury Jr is car chief.