Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
These rule changes were just announced on Wednesday:
1. “…Cars may not be pushed past the flag person at the end of the pit road. Unless otherwise authorized, once the race is underway, cars may be started by hand pushing in the pit area only, but under no circumstances is any car to be hand pushed more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box or into the acceleration zone or onto the race track from the pit area. Cars may not receive any assistance after the white flag has been displayed, except those cars making pit stops …”
What this means is that teams better get their cars started before they get to the end of the 3rd pit stall or they will be toast.
2. “A team member must be in contact with the outside tire(s) until the outside tire(s) reach the inside half of the pit box before the car leaves its assigned pit box. Any tires left in the outside half of the assigned pit box, or beyond, will result in a time or other penalty …”
What this means is that teams better get start thinking on how to do things differently during a pit stop. This is going to lead to a lot more pit practices over the next month for sure. I wonder if this is going to slow the pit stops down any? My first impression is that this is going to add 0.5 - 1.0 seconds to an average pit stop, but I don’t really know for sure - we’ll just have to wait and see.
Photo Credit: Air Force Link
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