During the Cup Series race on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell pulled into the pit stall of fellow Joe Gibbs Racing team – Chase Briscoe – to get a loose tire tightened that was discovered after he left his own pit stall before heading back out in the race.
At the time, Bell was charged with a pitting outside of his pit box penalty and had to serve a penalty. Since the stop was under the caution flag, Bell had to restart the race from the tail of the longest line.
The move caused a great deal of discussion and a bit of controversy among fans, broadcasters, and NASCAR.
Official have now clarified the pit road rules; especially those pertaining to a driver pitting outside of his own pit box, saying, “if a vehicle receives service in another team’s pit stall in an effort to correct a safety issue (loose wheels are considered a safety issue), the vehicle will receive a flag status penalty. The vehicle will either restart at the tail of the field (yellow flag) or receive a pass-through for pitting outside the assigned pit box (green flag).
If however, a driver makes a pit stop in a pit stall other than his own for non-safety related adjustments, they can receive a lap(s) penalty – held on pit road for the required number of laps.
Loose lug nuts or removing equipment from the taken out of the pit stall after the stop – fuel cans, jacks, wedge wrench, etc – are also considered safety issues will receive a flag status penalty. If the driver has to have equipment removed, they could receive a second – leaving the pit box with equipment penalty.
In an episode of “Hauler Talk”, NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde spoke on the issue saying, “in our view, a tire coming off the car is a very dangerous situation. That’s something we take very seriously. I think that’s where the allowance, the acceptance of what the 20 team did, and really the applauding of what the 20 team did, comes in because if what they did was avoid that dangerous situation, we’re OK with it to a certain point.”
He added that officials may review and alter the penalty if there are signs of abusing the practice.
Forde noted, “the concern is the unintended consequences. I don’t think it’s as much a loose tire and tightening that up. We’re always going to be OK with that. … More so it comes down to the 20 leaves the box, the wheels are all fine, but the gas man didn’t pack it full of fuel. Is (the 20) going to be allowed to stop in the 19 pit box and top off? That is a little bit different in our opinion. That’s the discussion we’re having now. Do we need to look a little bit deeper to say, ‘OK, this is not really in the spirit of the rule.’ Safety is one thing, a competitive advantage is another. So that’s really the conversation we’ll continue to have, but going into Homestead, no changes to the rule. But somewhere in the future, potentially.”
Christopher Bell was not the only driver on Sunday to have a loose wheel issue; Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch both lost a wheel on the racing surface and had to serve a two lap penalty in addition to having two of their crew members suspended for two races.