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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: NASCAR Plans Additional Scoring Loops At Bristol
More timing spots would allow for closer pit-road speed monitoring…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted August 28, 2011   Bristol, TN
Jeff Gordon (Right) stands on pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Bristol Motor Speedway is unique among NASCAR Sprint Cup tracks in that it has two separate pit roads – one along each straightaway.

That alignment does not fit well with NASCAR’s modern method of pitting, which includes strict pit-road speeds and an attempt to make pit stops and the entrance to and exit from the pits as equal as possible.

That was not the case in Saturday night’s Irwin Tools Night Race at the track. Race winner Brad Keselowski and others appeared to benefit from the location of their pits, giving them more room to move faster in certain sections of pit road. Other pit spots were not as advantageous.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director John Darby admitted after the race that the situation was not ideal and said NASCAR will address it.

“We understand what happened, and we’re already looking at it,” he said. “We’ll probably put in two more scoring loops on each side of pit road.”

NASCAR measures speed on pit road using computer loops in the track surface. The loops “time” cars as they move between them, and NASCAR computer monitors automatically identify cars that have moved too quickly from one loop to another.

Darby’s intent is to add loops on the Bristol surface, thus providing a closer read on speeds. Based primarily on their pit locations, some drivers were positioned to “speed” along portions of pit road, then quickly hit their brakes before being detected. Additional loops should take care of that discrepancy.

Jeff Gordon, who finished third, criticized the situation after the race.

“I don't know if there’s a little bit more of an advantage on the front straightaway than there is on the back straightaway, but to me the whole purpose of having timing lines and pit road speed is to make it as equal and fair for everybody as you possibly can,” Gordon said. “And they’ve got some work to do at this pit road. The race track is awesome, but the pit road is terrible.

“When a guy can run 60 miles an hour down pit road and the pit road speed is, what, 35, then something is wrong with the system. We were able to do something similar to that on the back straightaway, so I don’t really feel like that’s what cost us tonight. I did have a couple cars coming down pit road that were going slow when I left my pit stall that held me up a little bit, but we qualified good, so we had one of those stalls.

“But even when you have one and you see the other guys have one, it’s a joke that somebody can leave pit road and run that fast down pit road and then slam on the brakes. [Matt] Kenseth drove by four cars, and so did the 2 car (Keselowski) when he left his pit stall. I just don’t understand it.”

Keselowski beat Gordon out of the pits after the final round of stops, putting the Penske Dodge in position to overtake leader Martin Truex Jr., who had stopped for only two tires to inherit first place. Keselowski zipped around Truex quickly and led the rest of the way.

Pit selection is done in order of qualifying, giving faster teams top picks, a part of the process that Darby acknowledged Saturday night.

Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief, said pit selection is “all part of the race. I feel like we’ve been doing a good job at putting together a whole weekend. It’s not always about just having a fast race car. It’s about the guys having good stops. They had a fast stop there at the end when it counted, and that was able to get us toward the front row, and then we had a shot at it.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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