Chase Elliott & Brad Keselowski’s Indy Pit Exit Penalties Down to NASCAR’s Confusing Instructions and Here’s How

During the first stage of the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott were handed penalties for pit road violations. Both infractions were the same as they came onto the ‘racing surface’ before the pit exit. NASCAR had sent a mail earlier to the teams and drivers stating what they could not do, but the words they used were ambiguous. It led to a lot of confusion and not everyone was happy about it.

There are three white lines on the exit of the pits through turns 1 and 2. There is a lane below the topmost white line called the acceleration lane. That’s where cars get up to race speed and then join in on the action. However, at that part of the track the cars arch and can often stray over the line closest to the racing surface and doing that was deemed illegal by NASCAR. The problem among the drivers was that the organizers never clearly mentioned where the racing surface began.

NASCAR sent updated language to the drivers yesterday morning to clarify the pit road acceleration lane rule. This is what was sent. Portion officiated for 9 and 6 penalties is 'stay off the racing surface.' pic.twitter.com/3LplnZbv6s

— Mike Forde (@mforde) July 21, 2024

Elliott went completely over the topmost white line on pit exit and Keselowski was half a car width out. They were still near the apron of the track rather than the surface where cars were racing. You can’t blame any of them for assuming they were not on the racing surface. Had they mentioned that cars were not allowed to go over the topmost white line on the pit exit, a lot of this confusion could have been avoided.

Both the penalized drivers were fuming after they were informed of their penalties. “They didn’t say line, they said racing surface. So you tell me how the f**k I was on the f**king racing surface,” the driver of the #9 car ranted. Keselowski was a lot more civil as he accepted responsibility for suffering the penalty. However, the veteran also was not happy about it at first.

The last time NASCAR raced at the Brickyard Oval this rule was not in place. Cars could go beyond the white line from the pits between turns 1 and 2 and it was never an issue.

Even during Sunday’s race, Kyle Larson had two wheels beyond the line but there was no penalty levied for Yung Money. Although, he did not go as wide as the #6 or the #9. There was a bit of leniency in the sanctioning body’s decision-making which made the whole scenario even more confusing for everyone involved.