Christopher Bell made a quick and clever move during the NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas. While leaving the pit road, his team had failed to tighten his left front wheel. He quickly moved into the pit box of his teammate, Chase Briscoe, to have it tightened. The move landed him a penalty, but it was nothing compared to what could have transpired had he gone to the track with a loose wheel.
Advertisement
The quick action from him and his crew chief drew a lot of appreciation. Dale Earnhardt Jr., in particular, was impressed and even said the penalty was unwarranted since it was an emergency. However, fans pointed out to Junior that the move should not be allowed since it presents an unfair advantage to drivers who are a part of multi-car teams.
They could get repairs done in the boxes of their teammates, while drivers who are a part of single-car teams wouldn’t have that luxury. However, the winner at Vegas, Josh Berry, brushed aside this apprehension in a press conference at Homestead-Miami this weekend.
Berry stated that even single-car teams are tied up with bigger outfits and they aren’t on the track without help. He is a driver for Wood Brothers Racing, who are technically aligned with Team Penske. He expressed confidence that he could stop in one of the Penske pit boxes if he was in a situation similar to Bell’s.
“I feel like most of us could probably stop in most people’s [pit] boxes and they would help us out,” said Berry, before acknowledging that the situation is a safety hazard.
“You hope that, if you’re in that situation, somebody will help you, and then you’ll return the favor, right? A lot has been made out of it. But honestly, the biggest thing is it is a safety issue,” he added.
The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver seems far too optimistic to expect sportsmanship from competitors when the race is on. Then again, as he pointed out, the safety aspect of it would perhaps prompt teams to be helpful.
NASCAR redraws its rules after the Vegas incident
In just a few days after Bell stopped in Briscoe’s pit box, NASCAR clarified its rule book across all three series. It noted that if a car was repaired in another team’s box to rectify a safety issue, then the car would have to start at the end or serve a pass-through penalty.
Safety issues include loose wheels, loose lug nuts, improperly fit fuel cans, wrenches under the car, and so on. The promotion also pointed out that if a car is serviced in another team’s box for competitive adjustments, it would receive a lap penalty.
Teams under the same organization are allowed to be in touch with each other during races. However, the intricacies of the rules in NASCAR keep increasing. The latest set of clarified rules presents another factor that teams and drivers will have to be on the lookout for as they traverse this season.
