Almost everyone is aware of the fact that the world of NASCAR keeps on changing each year. However, the things that have remained consistent from the start are the No. 20 Home Depot Team and certainly Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli.
One of the toughest jobs that Zipadelli has taken up is to guide rookie drivers, which according to him is a very huge challenge. He was primarily responsible for guiding Tony Stewart towards winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1999.
Under the guidance of Greg Zipadelli, the team managed to build Home Depot cars. These cars driven by Tony Stewart fetched him 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships, 10 poles, 33 wins and of course the Rookie of the year award. Zipadelli was also highly committed towards Joe Gibbs’s NASCAR championship team and his driver.
Greg Zipadelli happens to be the most respected crew chief in the history of NASCAR. His leadership and highly sophisticated mechanical skills make him one of the most popular names in the world of car racing.
- In the year 1996, Greg Zipadelli started working for Mike Stefanik. With the assistance of Zipadelli, Stefanik succeeded in achieving nine top 10 and eight top 5 finishes. Soon under Zipadelli’s guidance, Mike won the Camping World Series East Championship with fourteen top 5 finishes and 2 wins in the year 1997. At the same time, Zipadelli too won his second touring series title. Without a doubt, Greg Zipadelli has played a major part in the success of Mike’s career.
- In 1998, Zipadelli soon joined the NASCAR Sprint Cup Operation and worked for team No. 99 as a chassis specialist along with driver Jeff Burton. Zipadelli turned out to be very lucky for Burton as he succeeded in finishing fifth in 1998 in the Cup standings, where he scored 18 top 5s and 23 top 10s with 2 wins.
In 2003-2004, Zipadelli along with the Home Depot Team managed to score 37 top 10s and win four races. They finished in the top-10 for the sixth year consecutively. The Home Depot team in all has tasted victory nine times, scored 50 top 10s and 36 top 5s and all of this was possible just because of the sheer dedication and hard work of Greg Zipadelli.
In 2008, the most popular pair (Zipadelli and Stewart) earned their final win at Talladega Superspeedway in a 500-mile race. No doubt, Greg Zipadelli is highly responsible for bringing about a positive transformation in the world of car racing.
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