Aahh Tire Control
January 10th, 2008 by Darren (NASCAR Geek)
Good mornin ladies and gentlemen (what pit number is he in?)
Drivers and tirerchangin fools
…
Aaah, tire control, oh
If you haven’t heard, NASCAR just added a rule to Cup Series pit stops.
This is the wording I found from Jeff Hammond’s post at Fox.
A team member must be in contact with the outside tire(s) until the outside tire(s) reach the inside half of the pit box before the car leaves its assigned pit box. Any tires left in the outside half of the assigned pit box, or beyond, will result in a time or other penalty.
What I understand, this is to reduce the number of ‘Tire Missiles’ flying through the air. How many times did we see that last year? And why is something so potentially dangerous, so much fun to watch? Right? I’ll slow the DVR down and call the kids in for a ‘Tire Missile’…I digress.
I was surprised to read that veteran NASCAR Tire Changer, Dennis Terry (Joe Gibbs Racing), says “rival drivers will get too close to him on pit road in order to throw off his rhythm. It is part of the sport. You know a driver is driving through your box to throw your timing off, it bothers you; but when he drives through your pit and you’re still able to beat him off of pit road, that is the competition we are all in it for.”
I think the rule is great, I just don’t understand why it comes out 37 days before the start of the first race. Pit crews are a well rehearsed and orchestrated team. They have every move analyzed. This sure throws a wrench in the works with very little time to prepare.
In case the off-season has fuzzied your memory, watch this YouTube video. See how the front tire carrier sends the wheel on a wobbly path along the front of the car? That won’t be the case without penalty now, as he (or someone) must be in contact with the tire until it reaches the halfway point of the pit stall.
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January 10th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Just great! So we’ve got “… until the outside tire(s) reach the inside half of the pit box …” and “… will result in a time or other penalty.”
Two more gray area or judgement calls in the “rules” (use that term loosely with NASCAR). So, will the teams need to put down a center line stripe in the pit box to reference “half of the pit box?” Or will Brian make the call from the tower, or maybe use the team’s overhead cameras? Who determines where “half of the pit box” is?
And once the judgment call is made, what does “time or other penalty” mean? Will the NASCAR official randomly choose to hold the driver in the pits for 5 additional seconds or choose to stand behind the tire changer on the next pit stop and tickle him in an effort to throw of his rhythm? Is that the “other penalty?”
Pffttt!!!
January 10th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
They also made another change affecting pit road, it’s not quite as gray, but still poorly worded.
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“Cars may not be pushed past the flag person at the end of the pit road. Unless otherwise authorized, once the race is underway, cars may be started by hand pushing in the pit area only, but under no circumstances is any car to be hand pushed more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box or into the acceleration zone or onto the race track from the pit area. Cars may not receive any assistance after the white flag has been displayed, except those cars making pit stops …�.
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All that off-season time spent on these two “really important” rules and they could not find one to fix the top 35 situation or limit Buschwackers?
January 10th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
James J - What’s so “gray” about it. IT not as if the pit box is a hundred yards wide, it’s a pretty simple calculation to determine the centerline of the box. And if memory serves ther’s another similar pit box “centerline rules” thats been on the books for a while. I’ll have to research it and post an update.
Lou - again, what’s unclear. The flagman at the end of pit road is pretty obvious and so is pushing your car more than three pit boxes.
And please, get off the Buschwhackers routine. The vast majority of that is cured by the CoT being used in all Cup events. The rest will be solved when Nationwide moves to the Pony Car formula.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
What’s unclear?
“Cars may not receive any assistance after the white flag has been displayed, except for those cars making pit stops”
So you can’t get push assistance past 3 pit boxes unless it’s the white flag lap and then you can?
And what if a teammate car pushes a teammate car in the pit area? Does this violate the “cars may be started by hand pushing in the pit area only” portion of the rule?
And what is the penalty?
And no I won’t stop using Buschwackers, thank you very much
By the time they really DO disappear from the Busch Series, it will be too late (it nearly is already) and the series will have been severely, if not permanently, damaged by them. The future teams in the sport are all but driven out by the BW’ers, so where will the next generation of both drivers AND teams come from?
As long as there is money to be made by a driver from the Winston Cup Series to race in the Busch Series and a sponsor who wants him there, the appearance of the COT or the Pony car will not make one iota of difference. They will still be there until a rule change is made.
I’ll give you a free pass for your temporary insanity due to your correct choice of military branch in which to serve.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:42 am
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