The Sprint Cup Series title sponsor previously served as title sponsor of the event held at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, just as it was title sponsor of the All-Star Race. But Sprint pulled sponsorship from the Pit Crew Challenge to title sponsor the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February. That race was formerly sponsored by Budweiser.

That left NASCAR searching for a sponsor for the Pit Crew Challenge, a search that had been going on since January, according to a recent report by The Sporting News. According to the report, that search failed, and as a result the Pit Crew Challenge has been cancelled for 2013.

“While we remain committed to continuing the unique competition that the pit crew challenge offers our teams and our fans, the event won’t be held this year,” NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp was quoted by The Sporting News as saying.

The Pit Crew Challenge determined pit selection for the Sprint All-Star Race. With the event eliminated, at least for this year, qualifying results for the All-Star Race will be used to determine pit selection, the same as it is used for pit selection for regular, points-paying races.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

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“These guys have stepped up to the challenge,” crew chief Chad Knaus said.

To claim the championship, the No. 48 team had to defeat the two-time reigning winner of the the event, the No. 11 team from Joe Gibbs Racing, in the final round. With a flawless stop and fast 40-yard push the team did it.

With the Pit Crew Challenge win, the No. 48 team will have first pick during pit selection for Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The team also won $80,675 and Johnson’s Jimmie Johnson Foundation received a donation of more than $9,000 from the NASCAR Foundation.

The No. 31 Richard Childress team dominated individual honors, with front tire changer Tim Sheets and front tire carrier J.D. Holcomb taking honors for the fastest front tire changer/tire carrier pair. Winning for the rear tire category were rear changer Jake Seminara and rear carrier Kenny Barber, also of the No. 31 team.

“This is my 14th season at changing tires,” Sheets said.

Other individual winners were Tom Lampe, gas man on the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team, and Jeff Kerr, jack man on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team.

“It’s very, very hard, but we put in a lot of hard work and a lot of effort,” Kerr said.

Individual winners were each awarded $10,000.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR.

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