Lesson 2: NASCAR Glossary
Pit Stops
We all have the idea that what happens out on the racetrack during a race is the real action that counts when it comes to winning or losing an event. This may be true to some extent, but it isn’t the only action or facet of a race, that can determine who wins or loses. The action on pit road has become more important in recent years than it ever has before.
There are different situations which bring about different types of pit stops. The racecars make pit stops under caution, pit stops during green flag racing, unscheduled stops for mechanical problems, and stops mandated by NASCAR for a rules infraction or disciplinary purposes.
Time is of the essence during any type of pit stop. Normal pit stops for a change of four tires and fuel fill-up usually take between 14 and 17 seconds. Some times tire changers have problems with lug nuts getting jammed in their air guns and the stop will take 25 seconds or more. Each second that goes by means the racecar’s position on the track has lost ground.
Although there may be several crew members working in the pit stall, only seven members are allowed over the wall to work on the car during the race. A jackman to jack up the car for tire changes; front and rear tire changers, each with a tire carrier; a gas man and a catch can man. After a serious pit road accident in which pit crew members were seriously hurt at Homestead/Miami near the end of the 2001 season, NASCAR mandated that all over the wall crew members must wear helmets. The gas man and catch can man must wear fire protective clothing as well.
In most NASCAR racing, a racecars on-track position is affected by its pit stops. When a car goes into the pits for service, it immediately gives up its position on the track. During a caution period, the cars on the lead lap get to come into the pits for service before those who are a lap down or more. If a lead lap car stays out on the track and does not pit during a caution, it will gain positions ahead of those who made pit stops. When cars leave the pit area after they are serviced, they cross what is called the “exit line” at the end of pit road. There is a camera mounted at that line that aids NASCAR in determining who reached the line first and what track position each car should assume. Races can be won or lost due to gaining or losing positions from pit stops.
Racecars get very poor fuel mileage, usually in the neighborhood of 5 to 6 miles per gallon. The fuel cells only hold 22.5 gallons of fuel, so they have what they call a “fuel window” meaning the number of laps that they figure the car can race before it must make a pit stop to take on more fuel. When no caution periods have existed during an event and green flag racing has prevailed, the racecars must make “green flag pit stops.” Usually in this instance, all cars must stop, usually going a lap down to those on the track, and they cycle back around to where the race leader ends up back in front.
One of the major downsides of green flag pit stops is having a caution flag come out while a car is in the pits for service. Usually when this happens, cars that are caught in the pits making their green flag pit stops end up getting put one lap down. They don’t get the opportunity to continue the cycling process back around to where there positions were because the cars that are out on the track get to pit under caution and do not go a lap down while pitting as those who pit on the green flag do.
Getting on to the other types of pit stops, a mechanical pit stop is usually the end of the competitive day in most instances. If there are engine problems that require the crew to open the hood, the car will go at least two laps down at most venues. The size of the track is really what creates the scenario for going laps down. It takes longer to circumvent a 2.5 mile track than it does a ½ mile track, so a car in the pits has more time to get service without going down as many laps. On the ½ mile tracks, a pit stop of 50 seconds or more can put a car several laps down, as the cars can circumvent the track in 15 seconds or less. When severe mechanical problems occur that cannot be taken care of in the pit box, the car must “go behind the wall” to the garage area for repairs.
A disciplinary pit stop usually always puts a car a lap down. They used to require a car to return to its pit box and set for 15 seconds for exceeding the pit road speed limit. That rule was changed before the last season, so now a car just has to return to pit road for a “drive through” and travel its distance at the required speed and return to competition. If the car exceeds the speed limit during the drive through, it will have to return to its pit box and sit for the required 15 second penalty. A car can be black flagged by NASCAR requiring it to make a stop on pit road. This can be for unsafe mechanical reasons and also for disciplinary reasons. Drivers have been known to get black flagged for passing on the left during a restart before reaching the green flag, rough driving, or for making profane comments over their radios, which are monitored by NASCAR officials.
As we move on to more of the ways that a pit stop can make or break a race for a competitor, we get into the subject of “pit strategy.” As the race progresses, crew chiefs work to develop their race strategies. Sometimes they take two tires instead of four on tracks were tire wear isn’t really an issue. This strategy gives them better track position because it takes a lot less time to take on two tires than it does four tires, thus they get out of the pits quicker than most of the others. Then there’s the fuel strategies that come into play at some tracks. Some racecars get better fuel mileage than others and get more laps of racing out of their mandated 22.5 gallons of fuel. They attempt to set up their pit stops to where they can go the distance of the race without making an extra stop. If this doesn’t work out for them, they have to make a “splash n’ go” stop, which only takes a few seconds to take on enough fuel that they need to finish the event. A lot of times caution periods help out the teams with fuel mileage because while under the caution flag, the cars are slowed down to usually 55 miles per hour behind the pace car. On superspeedways, they reach speeds of nearly 70 miles per hour behind the pace car under caution.
