During the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch was handed a penalty for interfering with the #77 Spire Motorsports team’s pit stop. In the process of getting to his own pit stall, he’d driven through the orange box at the edge of the #77 Spire stall – which indicates a non-interference zone for other drivers. The punishment for doing so cost him the chance of a good finish.
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NASCAR introduced these orange boxes last year to improve pit road safety and to prevent drivers from hurdling the pit stops of other teams. When Busch turned his car to enter his stall, which was right in front of the #77s, he drove on the box and almost took a tire out of the Spire Motorsports tire carrier’s hands. Thankfully for him, the race was under caution when this sequence unfolded.
Courtesy of the interference penalty and another penalty for an out-of-control tire, Busch lost 35 net positions throughout the race and finished in 15th place. Had he been able to execute on the good speed that he had, the Rowdy could’ve come away with some crucial stage points. This isn’t the first time that he is losing points due to woes on the pit road.
Following mistakes that cost him potential victories early in the season, Richard Childress replaced the #8 pit crew. Busch did not have any idea of who were in the new crew or what their caliber was at the time but he must have got a pretty good gist by now. Promisingly, the new crew was third quickest (9.39 seconds) in the four-tire change challenge during the All-Star race pit-crew challenge.
The pit-road interference rule explained in detail
The orange box rule mandates that there be an orange marker at the top right corner of every pit stall. The drivers are expected to stay to the right of this line. The marker indicates the safety threshold up to which another car can drive before entering its stall. Should a driver fail to keep outside of the marker, they could face potential penalties for interfering in another team’s pit stop and endangering lives.
Here is graphic in NASCAR rule book as far as vehicle interfering with a pit stop when trying to enter pit and the location of the orange box that if drivers go below and interfere with a pit stop, it will be a possible penalty (judgment call). pic.twitter.com/FRrYJ2Zks5
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 1, 2023
If the infringement was made while under caution, the driver in the wrong will have to restart the race from the tail-end of the field. If it was made under green, a pass-through penalty will have to be served. The rule will be applicable only if there is a crew in the pit stall to which the particular orange box belongs.
