At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Christopher Bell was punished for pitting outside of his pit box.
Having said that, NSC will examine the wording of its rulebook to ensure that the split-second choice made by crew chief Adam Stevens in the Pennzoil 400 to spare his team from an even more expensive infringement has no “unintended repercussions.
During a pit stop on lap 108, Bell pulled away from his pit stall, but Stevens soon discovered they had a loose wheel. Bell was instructed right away by the seasoned crew chief to locate a teammate’s pit stall and have them service the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 vehicle.
This decision was reached because the tire changer and jackman would have had to be suspended for the next two weeks if a loose wheel had come unfastened while on the racetrack.
After the race, Stevens stated that he understood there would simply be a penalty for pitting outside of their pit box and that such a scenario had been discussed before.
After the race, Stevens told reporters, “It’s something we’ve talked about previously.” It’s a topic that has already been brought up and discussed with NASCAR. It might stop a wheel from crossing the track or a more hazardous circumstance. We got on it as soon as we knew what had happened.
On the most recent installment of his “Hauler Talk” podcast, Mike Forde, managing director of racing communications for NASCAR, stated that safety is the reason this is allowed and will probably stay in place as written.
“We think it’s really unsafe when a tire comes off the car,” Forde stated. We take that matter extremely seriously. That, in my opinion, is where the 20 teams’ actions are allowed, accepted, and even applauded because, up until a certain point, we’re fine with them if they prevented that risky circumstance.
Their main worry is whether teams would use the ruling for purposes other than wheel security.
“The unforeseen effects are the issue,” Forde added. Tightening that up doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem as a loose tire. That will always be acceptable to us. More importantly, the gas man didn’t fill it up with enough fuel, even if the wheels are in good condition. Will the 20 be permitted to stop and top off in the 19 pit box?
We think that’s a little bit different. That is the topic of our current conversation. To say, “Okay, this is not really in the spirit of the regulation,” do we need to take a closer look? A competitive advantage is not the same as safety. That’s essentially the discussion we’ll keep having, but the regulation won’t change as we move toward Homestead. However, at some point in the future.
