Key Southern 500 Crew Chief Calls

Hello, race fans! I’m Michael Nebbia and welcome to the first edition of Monday Morning Pit Box. Here’s where we break down all the critical calls that shaped the outcome of a race, looking at life from a crew chief’s perspective.

This weekend, we were in Darlington for the first race of the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs, the Southern 500. One of the sport’s crown jewel events ended with Erik Jones bringing the No. 43 back to Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway for the first time since 1967; that’s 55 years to the exact day of Richard Petty’s last victory there.

Behind that Jones victory, let’s break down some crucial pit road moments that may influence who winds up in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway down the road.

1. Holding Kevin Harvick on pit lane during the competition yellow (Lap 36)

It’s lap 36, we’re under the competition yellow and it’s a four-tire change for 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick. On the right side of the car, everything goes OK but on the left front, there’s a hiccup. The crew takes so long to get the left rear off, they drop the jack early before all four wheels are properly secured.

Had Harvick pulled away, the left front tire would’ve came off, resulting in an automatic four-race suspension for crew chief Rodney Childers as well as two of Harvick’s crew members. It’s a penalty we’ve seen pop up all season long with drivers like Bubba Wallace at Circuit of the Americas, Denny Hamlin at Dover Motor Speedway and Kyle Larson at Sonoma Raceway. Getting bitten by the loose wheel epidemic would be even more costly for a championship contender during the playoffs.

Kyle Busch lost about five spots on pit road when the nut came out. Kevin Harvick had issues on the left front as it seems he went to leave before the tire was on

— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) September 4, 2022

Letting Harvick drive away would have been disastrous. Instead, Childers made the smart call to keep Harvick on pit road, lose the track position and ensure all four wheels were on the car. It took much of the race for Harvick to earn that track position back, failing to earn a stage point before a rocker arm failure eventually ended his night. The story then became his concern about safety surrounding the Next Gen chassis.

Those comments will bury this moment in the headlines. But a four-race suspension of Childers after this disastrous start to the Round of 16 would have made…