CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mike Metcalf just missed out on the start of Appalachian State’s run of three straight national championships in football.
He was just the kind of hungry athlete Red Bull Racing wanted. Metcalf, a former fullback for the Mountaineers, was the catch-can man for driver Brian Vickers’ athletic team that won Thursday’s Sprint Pit Crew Challenge by edging Denny Hamlin’s team in an all-Toyota final round.
Metcalf and former hockey players Brian Haaland (front tire changer) and Shaun Peet (jackman) were part of the seven-man team that changed four tires, filled the car with fuel and pushed it 40 yards in 22.902 seconds to collect the $70,000 first prize.
“I finished up one year short,” Metcalf said of Appalachian State’s dominant run in NCAA Division I-AA (now Championship Subdivision), “so it feels good to win a championship.”
Vickers’ team just edged Hamlin’s team, which crossed the line in 23.011 seconds, giving Vickers his choice of pit boxes for Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
But with Vickers without an automatic spot in the race, that will only happen if he first qualifies to get in.
