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As we head towards the weekend, I’ve got a couple of topics I wanted to cover regarding the recent goings on surrounding pit road.
New Gas Man Rule NASCAR announced a few weeks back that gas men are no longer allowed to attempt extra work while fueling the car during pit stops. What the rule was intended to do was put an end to gas men doing chassis adjustments or assisting with chassis adjustments while fueling the car. There were a few gas guys on pit road that were either doing adjustments themselves, or setting the wrench for their rear tire carrier. But if you’ve watched pit stops since the rule was implemented, you haven’t noticed a difference. And the reason you haven’t noticed a difference is because the rule really only affected a few teams. Teams are continuing to experiment with ways to speed up pit stops with the new fueling rules, and this was one method that NASCAR decided they weren’t okay with. But for most teams, it was no harm, no foul.
RCR’s New Pit Crew Coach Following a rough outing for Kevin Harvick’s pit crew on Sunday at Michigan, SPEEDTV.com’s Tom Jensen reported Monday that RCR had released it’s pit crew coach, Matt Clark. Clark had been with the team since 2008. RCR has since replaced Clark with Eric Wilson. Wilson is currently the jackman for Harvick’s #29 pit crew and was a jackman and coach for Richard Petty Motorsports last season.
Not Every Crew Change Gets A Press Release Within the last two seasons, we’ve seen some very notable changes happen within individual pit crews. The ongoing saga of the #48′s pit crew is the best example. The whole team was replaced mid race last year at Texas, and the crew is on it’s third front changer of the 2011 season. But I wanted to point out that there have been plenty of other changes this season to crews that didn’t get covered by the media. Pitting race cars is a tough business, and guys are going to lose their spots from time to time. It only becomes news when it happens to the five time defending champion or someone similar. If you are ever curious who is pitting for your favorite driver, check out Jayski’s pit crew pages. He does a solid job keeping track of who is where and updates when changes happen.
So far this season, we’ve seen everything from tire carriers becoming catch can guys, to second gas men, and tire changers and jackmen hanging tires. This new fueling system has the teams trying absolutely anything to figure out a way to make pit stops faster. At this point however, the only thing the teams are really sure about is that these new style gas cans require serious precision.
We saw our first real victim of the problems that can arise with the new cans on Sunday at Las Vegas. While running third part way through the Kobalt Tools 400, Greg Biffle’s #16 Ford ran out of fuel. The culprit? A mistake by the team’s gas man on the previous pit stop led to a less than full fuel cell. And if you were watching the race, you saw the result. The mistake ruined Biffle’s day, and relegated him to a 28th place finish.
The way the new dry break systems are designed, gas men must be near perfect when they make their “sticks.” Anything less than that will result in air in the lines and in the can, and an incomplete fill. Because of this, you can be sure Biffle won’t be the last victim.
Besides the potential problems, you’ve been able to see now just how much slower these new cans cause pit stops to be. Both Phoenix and Las Vegas gave us accurate views, as the races put the teams in situations where they needed tires and full loads of fuel. And trust me, the drivers and crew chiefs are not happy about the now slower stops. There has been no shortage of whining and butt chewings by both groups.
As the season progresses, teams will start to get some of the kinks worked out of the new system, and you’ll see less and less errors. But for now, expect there to be more victims, and more upset drivers. You can also be sure that pit crew coaches won’t be getting much sleep.
Want some more information about the new fueling system? Check out the system’s builder Schultz Products.
Is this week dragging by? Don’t worry, a holiday weekend is approaching, and with it comes Truck Series action at Kentucky, and NNS and Cup racing at Atlanta! While we wait for it to get here, we’ve got the 90th edition of ATIW for you. If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Anonymous:
Training for pit crews, how is it done? Is UTI the only show in town? By the way great articles, very well written, has given me a much better understanding of NASCAR, and I haven’t watched my first race.
The UTI campus in Mooresville, also known as NTI, doesn’t actually specialize in pit crew training. They are more about teaching guys to be mechanics. They do offer a pit crew class as a part of their program, but it is very basic. Performance Instruction & Training (PIT) in Mooresville does offer a much more comprehensive program for teaching people to go over the wall, as do a few other smaller programs. Tire changer and TV analyst DJ Copp actually runs his own small program for teaching guys and providing pit crews for example. Outside of that, some teams will have developmental pit crews they work with, or they will hand pick guys to bring in and train. The opportunity also exists for some shop employees to come out and learn. There are really several avenues for learning the skills. – T.C.
2. From Brandon:
Love the site! With the start and park drivers would NASCAR ever consider paying the purse based on laps completed? It seems if a team was only going to get 10% of the purse for running 10% of the laps it may eliminate some of the start and parking going on…
It’s certainly a novel idea. I think the big thing for NASCAR is not penalizing a team who competes every week and has bad luck but discouraging the practice of starting and parking. While this would certainly discourage the practice, as these teams wouldn’t be making much money off of this, it could also hurt a team trying to make a go of things. It’s definitely tough to find a perfect solution for this.- Journo
3. From Peter:
Sorry if this is a repeat question. Why do the gas can carriers always shake the empty can while timing down the balance of the second can?
What you are seeing when the catch can man is shaking the can is him signaling to the jackman that the car is full of fuel. When the tank is full, fuel will run out of the vent tube on the back of the car and into the catch can. Once the jackman sees the signal from the catch can man, and knows that his tire changers are finished, he will drop the jack and send his driver back to the race. – T.C.
4. From Craig:
With the NFL determined to go to an 18 game schedule, possibly pushing the Super Bowl deeper into February, do you think it will force NASCAR to change to the Daytona Speed Weeks schedule? Possibly going back to the old days when they started the season at another track before speed weeks to avoid a conflict with football?
It’s certainly possible that NASCAR would consider pushing the race back, or trying to accommodate the NFL if they pushed the post-season further into February. From the way I understand it though the NFL is just talking about taking away two pre-season games and starting the season earlier. If that happens it shouldn’t affect NASCAR’s schedule. – Journo
5. From Joe:
Have you heard anything about all of the engines NASCAR took to check for differences in horse power?
I know there weren’t any penalties associated with the check. And since we haven’t seen any more about it, we can assume NASCAR decided everything was fine. If they had found one manufacturer had a significant advantage over another, they would have made a rule change to level the playing field. – T.C.
6. From Brian:
With Petty saying this week that there will only be two cars, what was all the “exciting news” Petty, AJ, and Marcos talked about coming at each of there press conferences? What else is in store at RPM? Or is there nothing left to announce?
I’m sure what they were talking about were sponsor announcements. As far as I know they’re just going to be a two car team next season. – Journo
7. From Allen:
I’ve noticed when I attend Cup races if there was a Nationwide or Truck race the day/night before the “official” haulers are still in the infield. You know the ones with the giant Series logo’s on them, is there a reason they don’t leave with the team haulers?
As far as I know the Series haulers don’t generally return to North Carolina after races, so they aren’t in a hurry to leave the track like the teams are. They have to be at the next track early in the week, so they go straight from wherever they’re at to wherever they’re going. – Journo
8. From Michael:
“There was passion (and one middle finger), and boy was there carnage.” Who flipped the bird?
Steven Wallace to Ron Fellows. Here is the video – fast forward to 7:30. - Journo
9. From Michael in SoCal:
During Villeneuve’s last pit stop on Sunday, why was the catchcan kept in the car after the fueling was complete as they finished the four tire change?
Once the car is completely full, sometimes excess fuel will spill out of the vent tube. Keeping the catch can in until the last minute means less of that fuel ends up on the ground. Remember that it only takes one spark from a lugnut to set fuel on fire, and the less there is on pit road, the better it is for everyone involved. Also, spilled fuel is very slippery, so by not allowing spillage, it also aids in keeping the crew members on their feet during the stop. - T.C.
10. From Marcus:
Do you guys know what the state of the new Cup car is? They were really talking about it alot and lately they haven’t said a thing about it. With only 12 races left this season you would think that if they really wanted to implement it they would be designing it and getting ready to test it but all I have heard is that they would like to make changes to the current car to make it look more like the new Nationwide car. Just wondering if you guys have any more info or if you have heard anything in the garage area lately. Thanks.
Changes to the COT have certainly been discussed, but we’ve heard probably not until the 2012 season. NASCAR and the teams need enough time to properly test any proposed changes, and the teams would need time to implement these changes to their fleets. – T.C.
11. From Red Neck:
What type of coolant is used in NASCAR? Is it plain old water, anti-freeze or a mix?
Teams just use water to cool the engines. Anti-freeze is not needed because the cars are never driven in conditions that would require it. – T.C.
12. From Mike:
At the near end of the Nationwide race in Montreal, Robby Gordon ran out of fuel. Nascar told him to pull over and park (I believe the grass area in turn 2). Was that a safe move? What if his car would have been hit? Or Robby!
Absolutely. Robby got out of the car. This is actually not at all uncommon in most road course racing series. This is why they have local cautions to alert drivers of an issue in a certain part of the course – this avoids unecessary full course cautions. While NASCAR doesn’t utilize the local caution, this was not a surprising move given there were only a couple of laps left. So to answer your question, Robby was safe and the drivers were all well aware of his car’s position on the track. – Journo
And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!
You may not realize it, but while the 2009 season still isn’t officially over yet, preparations for 2010 have already begun. One area that teams will spend the last few races working on, is changes to their pit crews.
To the untrained eye, it may appear to be business as usual for your favorite driver on pit road. The car comes in, four tires go on, the car leaves. But many teams take the opportunity to use these last couple of races to plug some new crew guys into their teams and see how they fare. Do they gel with the existing crew guys? Are they rattled by the pressure? Could they make it next year? These are all questions teams are trying to answer.
You won’t usually see this from the Chasers, but many teams outside the Chase will tinker. It is inevitable that some guys will stay with their current teams, while others are looking to move on. And some will be looking for a new spot involuntarily. Either way, the teams need to find new guys to fill those holes. These races can give them that chance to see what a guy, or guys, has.
Besides lateral movement within a series, these races also give teams a chance to see some younger guys in action. Maybe a guy is brought up from the Truck Series to the Nationwide Series, or from the Nationwide Series to the Cup Series. Crew chiefs and pit crew coaches can see first hand if a younger, inexperienced guy might be ready to move up the ranks. Some will thrive, while others will need more time to mature.
When you watch any of the races this weekend, the Cup race in particular, be on the lookout for helmets on pit crew guys that don’t match the rest of the crew. Often times, a gray helmet on a team means a new guy is involved. And if you really know your favorite driver’s team well, take a look at each crew member. Do you recognize every face? In many cases, I’ll bet you will be able to spot some fresh faces. It’s just another example of how teams are always working to be better for the future.