Blair Hefty was right. It was the best seat in the house.
A couple of months ago, Hefty, who works for an agency that does public relations for the Shell Oil Company and its Pennzoil brand, called to ask if I’d be interested in occupying “the best seat in the house” when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series came to Phoenix International Raceway.
The best seat, he explained, was up on the Pennzoil pit box, looking over the shoulder of Todd Berrier, crew chief of the No. 29 Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress and driven by Kevin Harvick. 
To get me ready for the race, some time was scheduled last week at the SEMA (automotive aftermarket) Show with Danny Lawrence, chief engine builder for Richard Childress Racing, which has done so well this season that all three of its drivers – Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer – are among the dozen in the Chase for the Championship, NASCAR’s version of the post-season playoffs.
By the way, Pennzoil is more than primary sponsor for the No. 29 car. Lawrence says Pennzoil and Shell are true team partners, providing scientific help in engine research and parts development. He notes that Harvick’s car has gone a modern-day NASCAR record 79 consecutive races without an engine-caused DNF (did not finish), and that Bowyer’s 72 in a row trails only Harvick’s total among current Cup cars.
Lawrence says he’s so pleased with his oil that even if the formal sponsorship arrangement were to end, he’d insist on buying Pennzoil for the RCR cars. And, he promises, because of the intensity of NASCAR competition, if he found lubricants that performed better than his sponsor’s, “we’d be buying it.”
Speaking of buying, I can’t even guess how much NASCAR fans would be willing to pay to buy time in Pennzoil’s best seat in the house, which actually begins well before the race with a guided tour of the team’s racecar transporter/mobile garage/portable headquarters as well as a good backgrounder on the precise preparation and coordination that goes into each race weekend.
Finally, however, it was time to climb up the pit box and to sit 10 feet in the air, just behind pit wall, not only looking over the shoulders of Berrier, the team’s engineers and Harvick’s wife, DeLana, as she kept her lap chart, but listening to the radio conversation between Berrier and Harvick and enjoying not only a bird’s-eye vantage of the pit road and the front straightaway, but looking at five huge television monitors -- two with race scoring and timing, one with the main ABC/ESPN television feed, and two showing Direct TV’s Hot Pass coverage that followed Harvick’s car through every lap and every pit stop.
I was surprised how little conversation there was during the race between driver and crew chief. Primarily, they chatted very briefly a few laps before each pit stop, Berrier suggesting a specific change, or presenting the option of changing air pressure in a tire instead of adjusting the track bar a quarter turn to enhance handling.
The majority of what Harvick heard during the race was his spotter letting him know where the traffic was as Harvick was passing it. “Outside.” “Outside.” “Corner.” “Clear” was typical as Harvick raced from 19th on the starting grid to seventh at the finish.
On occasion, Berrier would insert a few words, reminding Harvick that the car he was chasing had pitted earlier and therefore was on older tires than his car, which meant Harvick had an advantage, or encouraging the driver late in the race by noting an especially good lap time.
Harvick’s charge – along with the race itself -- was interrupted early in the day by a brief rain shower and then was stopped again, just 39 laps from the finish when one car ended up atop another after a multi-vehicle crash. Three caution flags would punctuate the ensuing and final laps, in the process robbing Harvick of yet additional positions -- he was just about to pass Dale Earnhardt Jr. when the last caution came out, leaving too few laps for Harvick to rebuild his momentum.
Nonetheless, the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 was quite a show, and though I’m sure Harvick (and the other drivers who finished the race) would disagree, I think I had the best seat in the house.
-- Larry Edsall