The NASCAR Cup Series NextGen car weighs 3,400 pounds. When they race around a track at speeds of over 200 miles per hour and come into the pit road for a change of tire, crew members need more than just a regular hydraulic jack to lift these hefty machines. What they use are specialized, made-in-house jacks that can get the job done with one strong pump.
These jacks are specially designed for race cars and cannot be obtained from any retail store or showroom. Teams like Joe Gibbs Racing make them on their own and keep innovating to extract an extra marginal advantage each time. Chris Rice of Kaulig Racing explains to NASCAR, “As they put it under the car, it takes one pump. It’s up high enough. He’s [jackman] able to go right to the rear tire and pull it off.”
Pit stops have come down to as low as nine seconds and having to pump a jack two or three times could result in a catastrophic loss of time. As important as the tool is, so is the one operating it. The jackman is one of the five crew members who are allowed over the wall during a pit stop. This role requires one to not only lift the car in the air to change the tires but also to hang two tires themselves.
This makes the job a highly physical one. The jack itself weighs around 30 pounds and to carry it to either side of the car to get the job done requires quite the muscle power. What also makes the position challenging is the need to be precise with the timing of when the jack is dropped. A microsecond too early and the wheel would not have been sufficiently tightened.
Examples of Jackman mistakes from the latest Cup Series race at Richmond
Such errors can cause a loss of position. An example of this unfolded during the latest Cup Series race at Richmond. The jackman of Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch dropped the jack before the left rear wheel was tight. The Camaro had to be jacked up again and the wheel tightened properly. This resulted in Busch losing time unnecessarily on the pit road.
Martin Truex Jr. faced a similar issue with 55 laps to go in Stage 2. He was the first driver on the road but his jackman dropped the car before the left rear tire was on the studs. The tire was caught under the fender and the car had to be jacked up again to install the wheel and tire in the right manner.
