Heading into Sunday’s action at Pocono, the storylines were going to be about a new racing surface around the 2.5-mile triangle. Speeds were going up, and handling was going to be a premium. Who would have thought at the end of the afternoon, it wasn’t the track surface that was the big talk, nor was it the young man that went to victory lane?
Instead, the story was about pit road, but even then it wasn’t the action on pit road. The pit crews did their jobs, but it was more in what the drivers were doing…or was it NOT doing?
The 160-lap event was highlighted by penalties on pit road, and not just one here and there, but multiple ones even from some of the best drivers in the sport. The speeding penalties that were given out were handed out like free food sample at a local grocer. A record 22 penalties were handed down by NASCAR for speeding on pit road, and if that wasn’t enough to shock any fan or driver, only two were found to be entering the pits.
NASCAR.com posed a question to fans as part of their Monday video “Green-White-Checkered” that is an interactive broadcast, asking were all the speeding penalties in the race a fault of the drivers or NASCAR’s timing lines.
For me, it’s a two way street…some fault of the driver, and some fault of NASCAR. Let’s start out with the driver, because for obvious reasons if a driver is speeding entering your pit stall, it’s hard to deny because they are trying to make time entering their pit for service. The same can be said for when the driver leaves pit road.
However, NASCAR sets a guideline for teams of pit road speed. For Pocono, it was 55 MPH, which drivers gauge via their tachometer and have set during the initial pace laps. NASCAR gives drivers a 5 MPH limit over that, so at times some teams could go 60 MPH.
It’s not uncommon for some drivers to speed on pit road and get caught, it happens every race. But, 22 different times?
This is where the argument of the fault of NASCAR could come into play. When Pocono resurfaced their track, they also did the same to pit road, including new pit stalls. But, this also meant they added in some new timing lines to determine that drivers are maintaining pit road speed. These are in locations that are shown to drivers on a map prior to the race (one that was later shown on TNT’s broadcast of the race).
The lines are in locations that are different from one year ago, which could possibly cause confusion among drivers.
At the same time, the interesting thing about what happened on Sunday is that majority of drivers were getting caught in the final zone, which is from the end of the last pit stall to the actual pit-out line. Drivers were thinking the line marking the end of pit road and where the timing line was located. Turns out, all were in the same location.
The question now becomes how can drivers while they are in the car know where the timing lines are located, because for the most part they are in line with either a pit stall, entrance to the garage, or the start/finish line. Maybe NASCAR could look into making some marking on the pit stalls so drivers can see with their own eyes where the timing lines are located, because often when a driver wants to make up time on pit road, they could have a tendency to speed. But it could help to know where they are located not just via the map, but also from the cockpit.
Still, rather than discussing Joey Logano taking the victory, the talk is going to be about 22 different instances when a driver was caught going faster than they should have been.
RESULTS: 1-Logano 2-Martin 3-Stewart 4-Johnson 5-Hamlin 6-Bowyer 7-Kenseth 8-Earnhardt Jr. 9-Menard 10-McMurray
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11-Edwards 14-Harvick 18-Keselowski 19-Gordon 24-Biffle 29-Kahne 30-Kyle Busch
CAUTIONS: 7 for 35 laps. Lap 3-5 (#83, 56, 22 accident-T3), 15-20 (#32, 36, 49 accident-T3), 67-71 (#22 accident-T2), 75-82 (Debris-T1), 125-128 (Debris-Short Chute), 138-143 (#5 accident-T2), 150-152 (Debris-T2).
LEAD CHANGES: 19 among 10 drivers. Logano 1-16, McMurray 17-22, Hamlin 23-31, McMurray 32, Earnhardt Jr 33-43, Kenseth 44, Biffle 45-46, Ragan 47, Hamlin 48-59, Earnhardt Jr 60-67, McMurray 68-74, Biffle 75-91, Kenseth 92-101, Logano 202-203, Montoya 104-106, Gilligland 107-108, Earnhardt Jr 109-125, Logano 126-152, Martin 153-156, Logano 157-160.
TIME OF RACE: 3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 12 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 131.004 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.997 Seconds
POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kenseth, 523 points; 2. Earnhardt Jr, -10; 3. Biffle, -16; 4. Hamlin, -19; 5. Johnson, -30; 6. Harvick, -53; 7. Truex Jr, -58; 8. Stewart, -75; 9. Bowyer, -80; 10. Keselowski, -97; 11. Edwards, -100; 12. Kyle Busch, -103