Good morning, and welcome back to Monday Morning Pit Box following the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In MMPB, we break down the previous NASCAR Cup Series race from the perspective of the crew chief, analyzing race-changing pit calls, pit stops, and pit road penalties.
The fans at Atlanta got their money’s worth on Sunday, with a dramatic three-wide run to the checkered flag that saw Daniel Suarez edge out Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch. But what role did pit strategy and execution play in getting us to that instant classic photo finish? Let’s take a look.
McDowell and Byron’s Runs Felled by Pit Entry Collision
Compared to other oval tracks, Atlanta Motor Speedway has a unique setup for entering pit road. Instead of getting down to pit speed at the end of turn 4, the drivers must commit to pit road at the entrance of turn 3, a change made after the first Atlanta race under the current configuration in 2022.
Once past the commitment line, if pitting under green flag conditions, drivers must maintain a pit entry speed limit of 90 mph until the old pit entry at the exit of turn 4. At that point, drivers must get down to the pit road speed limit of 45 mph.
A crash at that pit entrance negatively impacted two big names in the field: polesitter Michael McDowell and last week’s Daytona 500 winner, William Byron. On lap 135, in the middle of a green-flag pit cycle, McDowell and Byron spun and made contact near pit-in, both getting into the inside wall. McDowell and Byron both battled back to an extent, each finishing on the lead lap in eighth and 17th, respectively.
The different pit road layout and rules for Atlanta will be something to keep in mind when the Cup Series returns to the track in September for the opening race of the playoffs.
Pit Road Police Stayed Busy
NASCAR officials handed out their fair share of speeding tickets to Cup Series drivers on Sunday. During the same green flag pit cycle as the McDowell and Byron crash, six drivers got tagged for speeding on pit road. Three drivers got penalized on lap 136: Josh Berry, Ross Chastain and B.J. McLeod. Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace got caught speeding on lap 140.
In addition to all the speeding on pit road, there were a few pit penalties handed out to drivers and teams on Sunday:
- Lap 30 – Daniel Hemric and No. 31 team got sent to the tail of the field for too many men over the wall on their yellow flag pit…
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