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During the race, pit road can be a busy place. Under cautions, it’s not uncommon for 30 or more cars to hit pit road for service. When that happens, teams are at the mercy of those around them in regard to how they can get in and out of their pit stall. But during green flag pit stops, crew chiefs actually work together to give their drivers the best chance of getting on and off pit road quickly. By coordinating with their neighbors on when they come in for service, crew chiefs can ensure their drivers have a clean shot in and out of their pit stall.
What you often hear about, is crew chiefs coordinating with each other during superspeedway races like we just had at Talladega. In those cases, they are usually trying to work out drafting deals and figure out when they can come to pit road with their partners. But this type of collaboration isn’t just limited to Daytona and Talladega. It actually happens almost every week.
Once you are aware of what is going on, these interactions between rival crew chiefs can be interesting to witness. In the days of advanced technology with computers and digital radios, guys are usually reduced to yelling, hand signals, and sending runners from pit box to pit box.
Since the teams aren’t wired together, and with noise being an obstacle, the first challenge is getting your neighbor’s attention. From there, the goal is to figure out when the cars to your left and right are coming to pit road so you can come the lap before or after. By working together to stagger pit stops, everybody gets the best possible chance to gain or maintain track position.
It’s the little intricacies like this that make racing truly interesting. When I talk to new race fans, and those attending races for the first time, they often say that they didn’t realize how complex and involved it all was. The quote is usually something like “I just thought it was guys going in circles.” Those of us in the sport and the educated race fan know different. These interactions between rival crew chiefs are a small, but vital aspect to giving a driver the best possible chance to win.
There was an interesting piece today on NASCAR.com where Joe Menzer and Bill Kimm faced off about whether or not Chase teams should be allowed to make pit crew changes. They referenced the changes that have happened to Kevin Harvick’s team the last two years, and the mid-race change for the #48 at Texas last season. Kimm was against allowing changes, saying that no other sport allows changes to playoff rosters. I disagree, and instead side with Menzer in the debate. Teams should be allowed to make whatever changes they see fit, and at whatever time. NASCAR is a performance based business, and teams must be able to make changes when they are needed.
If NASCAR instituted some sort of roster rule, I believe it would actually create more problems than it would solve. First, when is the deadline for roster moves? If its something where teams can’t make changes before the Chase starts, everyone will just make their changes before hand. Second, what does a team do if they have an injury to a pit crew guy during the Chase? They are going to have to fill that spot. So if the roster rule has some sort of provision that allows for backups at each spot in case of injury, what’s to stop a team from reporting an injury or two just to make a change? NASCAR teams are known for finding ways to circumvent the rules, and we’ve seen a recent memo from the NFL regarding faking injuries, so you’d know it would happen in our sport.
From a team standpoint, it’s important to understand that they are trying to do everything possible to give their Chase drivers a shot at the championship. And at every multi-car team, there is going to be one pit crew that is better than the other(s). So if they can slide guys around to strengthen a team, they are going to do it. It certainly sucks if you are on the crew that gets replaced, but this isn’t little league racing. There is a lot at stake and we are all grown men. If you don’t like it, go find something else to do.
I also want to point out that I don’t think these moves give the affected drivers some sort of advantage. It isn’t like these Chase teams are sacking other teams to put together some sort of super pit crew. Everybody has contracts these days, and changes are just happening within organizations. And as close as the competition is on pit road, there isn’t a huge difference in the skill and ability of the top pit crews. Swapping the 33 guys to Harvick’s team might mean more consistency during stops, but he isn’t magically going to get 10 or 11 second stops. That bunch is still the same group that has pitted Bowyer’s car all year.
I think fans need to remember that races can be lost on pit road, but they cannot be won there. The crews can help put their drivers in the right position, but there is no finish line at the end of pit road. What a solid, consistent pit crew does, is allow their driver to be the reason why a race is won or lost. That’s really all we are asked to do.
Pit road has played a big roll in the outcome of races this season, and as the Cup and Nationwide Series search for their 2011 champions, an even bigger emphasis will be placed on the crews. Those drivers with the strongest pit crews will have a serious advantage as we come into the home stretch. Knowing that, some teams have made moves to strengthen their performance over the wall. Two recent pit crew shakeups have already paid dividends to their teams, and the moves could be crucial in the hopes of two contenders.
Saturday night in Richmond, Kevin Harvick re-emerged as a legitimate title contender. After spending much of the summer struggling to find some measure of mojo, Harvick and the 29 team showed they are ready to take a shot at unseating the 48. And what was a big key to Harvick’s fourth win of the season? A key pit stop late in the race. With 15 laps to go, a caution brought the field to pit road, and fast work by Harvick’s crew put the 29 ahead of Jeff Gordon on the ensuing restart. Harvick was then able to hold off Carl Edwards for the win, and secure his spot tied with Kyle Busch atop the standings heading to Chicago.
If you might remember, it’s only been a few weeks since Richard Childress Racing replaced it’s pit crew coach. And along with the coaching change came a new front changer for Harvick’s crew. Tim Sheets, who has spent the season changing for Elliott Sadler’s #2 team in the Nationwide Series, was brought up to help alleviate some of the pit stop issues Harvick has experienced this season. Needless to say, the move has worked.
In the Nationwide Series, the battle for the driver’s title is a tight one. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. only has a 16 point cushion between himself and second place Elliott Sadler with seven races remaining. In order to give Stenhouse the best possible chance to win the championship, Jack Roush has pulled out all the stops. After a tough night at Atlanta, Stenhouse’s entire pit crew was replaced with the #6 Cup crew of David Ragan. The change provided immediate results. With the double duty #6 guys servicing his race car at Richmond, Stenhouse never ran lower than seventh in the race, and finished a very strong third behind Kyle Busch and Edwards.
Because racing has become so tight out on the track, teams have discovered that it is often easier to make passes on pit road. And in order to do that, they need the quickest six guys they can put together. As the Chase gets ready to kick off this weekend, expect pit road to be a big factor in who takes home this season’s Cup.
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.
I’ll admit I’m a bit of a lurker. I like to hang around on Twitter, Facebook, and some forums to see what the fans are talking about. It really helps when searching for new topics to write about for TNI. Something I’ve seen a bit recently that I wanted to address has to do with comments about pit crews. When things don’t appear to go well during pit stops, some are quick to jump all over the guys doing the service. And while mistakes do happen, spots lost on pit road are not always the fault of the pit crew.
With the tires that Goodyear has been bringing to the track this year, we’ve seen crew chiefs playing a lot with tire strategies. At any point in the race, we’re seeing no tires, two tires, and four tire stops. This is the first place to look when you’re favorite driver makes big jumps up and down the leaderboard following a round of stops. If driver X takes four tires, and everyone else takes two, it’s impossible to hang on to any track position. No crew on pit road is good enough to beat teams out when they’re getting two more tires.
Another place to look when your driver loses ground on pit road is adjustments. Small changes like air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments can be done without losing much time. But when bigger changes are needed, the crews will need more time. Doing things like pushing in or pulling out spring rubbers, pulling out or putting in front end shims, and putting clicks in shocks can result in lost track position.
The last way that a team can lose track position on pit road that I wanted to mention is damage repair. Not all damage that the cars suffer results in a caution, or is shown on television. Things like wrinkled fenders and damage to noses must be addressed, especially at the big tracks. And while often not major, repairs sometimes can’t be completed in 13 seconds.
So, while mistakes do occur and pit crews are sometimes to blame, it isn’t always our fault. We are often tasked to do things that just can’t be completed during the course of a normal pit stop. At that point, it’s more important that we get things right than it is that we have a quick stop.
By now, I’m sure you know by heart the story behind Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew. The team struggles at Texas, gets replaced by Jeff Gordon’s crew for the remainder of the Chase, and all but a few are gone at season’s end. Coming into 2011, Chad Knaus decided to go in a different direction with his pit crews. Over the off season, the team held a ton of tryouts and brought in a big group of younger guys. His plan was to send the fastest six guys from the week’s practices over the wall during that week’s race. It would be the ultimate earn your spot crew. I told you in January that I thought it was a bad idea, and I’m being proven correct.
Before this last week’s race at Michigan, Johnson had a few quotes and comments about the situation and how it’s going. To hear him and Knaus talk, you’d think things were going well. In reality though, race fans have watched the team struggle at times this season. There have certainly been some bright spots, but there have also been some missteps. And those missteps have led to Knaus making changes. The front changer and front carrier were swapped out a few races back, but we’ve seen the new tandem make some mistakes recently. If that continues, expect more changes.
Like I said in my post back in January, the really good pit crews are those that have worked together for a while. Really tight pit stops only happen when guys know each other really well, and can anticipate each other’s every move. If a mistake happens, the team rallies, makes a correction, and keeps digging. Teamwork like that only comes from continuity. Knaus has dismissed this completely.
What every smart pit crew coach and crew chief understands is that mistakes are going to happen on pit road. There is just too much happening very quickly, and in very tight spaces for things to go right all the time. The guys who stick around on pit road for many years are those who are able to quickly forget about mistakes and get right back to business. A guy who is constantly worried about making one small mistake and getting replaced won’t be at the top of his game. He’s too focused on not screwing up, when he should be focused on staying loose and doing things right.
The pit crew situation at Hendrick Motorsports is really an interesting dichotomy. On one hand we’ve got Knaus with his brilliant plan, and on the other we’ve got the rest of the teams using the traditional method. The 88 and 5 pit crews consist of veteran guys who’ve been together for some time. The 24 crew has a mix of veteran and younger guys, but they have been kept together. You know the result.
At the end of the day, I feel bad for those six who strap up and don Lowe’s firesuits each week. In some sense, they are behind before they even start. They are already responsible for servicing the race car for the reigning five-time champ, but because of their leader’s plan, they are subject to an extra helping of pressure. Instead of hearing “hey, we’ve got your back and we support you,” they get “hey, don’t screw up or you’re out.” Not a great message. And everyone in the garage sees it, except for Chad Knaus.
It’s always nice for the teams when we get to this part of the schedule, because with all three series racing in Charlotte, it means most get to sleep in their own beds. But a crowded weekend schedule, along with a trip to Iowa for the Nationwide cars, means some will have a very busy couple of days.
As we’ve talked about here many times before, there are some individuals and some full crews that pit race cars across multiple series. A few do it within their own companies, and others pit cars for many different race teams. You’d think Charlotte races would make for an easier weekend, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
Consider this example. The five guys that pit Trevor Bayne’s Cup car are also the same guys that pit Carl Edwards’ NNS ride. With their commitments between both cars, they will be pitting race cars four straight days. The Daytona 500 win made Bayne eligible for the All Star race, and his crew eligible for the Pit Crew Challenge. So his guys will spend Thursday at Time Warner Cable Arena for the Challenge. Then, they will head out to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday because qualifying for the All Star race includes that all important pit stop. On Saturday, the team will be busy working the All Star race. And they will close out their weekend with a nice short trip out to Iowa to pit Edwards’ Mustang on Sunday. Whew, I’m tired for them.
Besides this group, there are other guys and crews who will work Friday night’s Truck race, Saturday’s All Star race or Showdown, and then fly out to Iowa for the NNS race. The backup teams for the likes of Red Bull Racing and Hendrick Motorsports will have weekends similar to this. And many of these guys will be right back to their shop or other jobs on Monday morning.
Thanks to weekends like this, it isn’t uncommon for some guys to pit race cars in 70+ races a year. It can be extremely grueling and tough on the body over the course of a 10 month season. But for those that are willing to hustle, there is experience to be had and some nice money to be made.
Sunday’s Cup Series race at Dover was the perfect example of good strategy overcoming speed and handling shortcomings. Matt Kenseth did not have the best race car over the course of the race, but the right call by his crew chief at the right moment put him in position to win. And Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson are left wondering “what if.”
When the cars come to pit road following a shorter than normal run, crew guys know that anything is possible. Crew chiefs can call for anything from four tires, to fuel only. And often times you won’t get more than a few seconds warning. The crew chief will start counting the driver into the stall, and then make a last minute audible. For many teams on Sunday, that’s exactly what happened. Guys like Johnson, Edwards, and Clint Bowyer who had been the cars to beat all day, were neutralized by two tire stops.
Besides the winning Kenseth, good pit strategy was the key to good finishes for Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose, and Brian Vickers. Martin stayed out, and Ambrose and Vickers both got two tires.
Along with the late race pit strategy, another surprising element of Sunday’s race was the lack of cautions. Dover isn’t referred to as the “Monster Mile” for nothing, but there were shockingly few on track incidents. Compared to both the CWTS and NNS races the previous two days, the Cup race was tame. Especially on a day when track conditions were treacherous (see track rubber issues).
Finally, I was really disappointed to see how sparsely attended the weekend’s races were. I know a constant threat of rain probably turned off some fans, but to see entire sections of grandstands completely devoid of spectators was sad. Dover always puts on great shows, and there are plenty of largely populated areas nearby to draw from. Hopefully TV ratings were up.
Now it’s your turn. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on the weekend’s action. I heard a late race move by FOX to show commercials in a split screen was quite the hit…
If you’ve been a TNI reader for a while, you know that both Journo and myself are big fans of the yearly Pit Crew Challenge. Each year, during the All Star race week, the best 24 pit crews do battle at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena for bragging rights and some serious cash. The event gives fans the opportunity to see up close what the pit crews do, and it gives faces to the normally helmeted and anonymous crew guys. At only $15 a ticket, it’s also probably one of the best event values in NASCAR. And besides the action, there are always a ton of drivers, crew chiefs, and other NASCAR personalities in attendance.
The format for this season’s competition is the same as it’s been in previous years, with the jackman, front guys, rear guys, and gas man all doing their jobs on individual cars. Once their job is complete, the teams then must race to push their team’s car across the finish line. Penalties are issued for things like loose or missing lugnuts and incomplete gas fills.
To be eligible for the challenge, teams must meet these requirements:
All teams currently qualified for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, which includes NASCAR Sprint Cup race winners from 2010 and 2011, NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winners of the past 10 years and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions of the past 10 years who are active drivers and have competed in at least one Series event during the 2010 or 2011 season. Also eligible is the 2010 NSPCC winner. If there are no new event winners, the remaining unfilled positions will become available to the car owners ranked highest in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Owner point standings as of May 18, 2011, who are not otherwise eligible for this event.
Currently locked into the field are the pit crews for David Reutimann, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Trevor Bayne, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson, Regan Smith, and Carl Edwards.
With one race to go before the rest of the field is officially set, there are currently five open slots to be filled. They go to the highest teams in the owners standings not already eligible, which would add the crews of Dale Earnhardt Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, Paul Menard, David Ragan, and Martin Truex Jr. to the mix. Things could certainly change though, as a win by a driver not currently locked in would drop the open slots to four. And the 27, 6, and 56 all have a slim margin over those on the outside looking in.
Starting today (Monday as I’m writing this post) and running through Wednesday, teams will spend time practicing for the challenge on the actual setup that will be used for the event. With some nice prize money at stake, you can be sure the teams will well prepared come next Thursday night.
For more information on the 2011 Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and to buy tickets, visit www.pitcrewchallenge.com.