Final Turn: Pit mistakes putting brakes on teams

The old bug-a-boo reared its ugly head again Saturday night at Phoenix, this time biting Jeff Gordon. The series points leader fell two laps down as the result of a missing lug nut. It's just the latest in a long line of pit-road mistakes that have bogged down efforts to win races.

Anatomy of Pit Stop

Because seconds are so critical in a race, fast pit stops are important -- all it takes is one bad pit stop to move a potential winner to the back of the pack. NASCAR allows seven team members over the pit wall to service a car during pit stops.

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• Carl Edwards went into a critical stop late in the race at Texas with the lead; he restarted in 11th place. It lead to a new tire changer for the 99 team.

• Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth also had problems at Texas with lug nuts. Biffle, like Edwards, had a car capable of winning as he rallied from the mistake to finish third.

• Even the unflappable 48 team of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus aren't immune. They had a uncharacteristically slow stop at Bristol yet managed a third-place finish. At Phoenix, they managed to finish fourth despite their own problems with lug nuts.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s list of pit woes is too long to mention.

Of course, some pit-road errors are driver-inflicted. This includes Earnhardt, as well. And Biffle, who lost another opportunity for a win at Fontana when he overshot his pit stall. Kyle Busch thought he had taken the lead on the final stop at Phoenix only to be penalized for speeding.

With races more marathons than sprints they oftentimes are won, and lost, on pit road. As are championships. Gordon had his lead dwindle from 162 points to 85 after finishing 25th at Phoenix.

"We had some issues in the pits," Gordon said. "We can't afford to have any mistakes any more, really."

Gordon can be thankful his lead isn't less over second-place Johnson.

"We had some issues with lug nuts falling off due to the glue that we used," Johnson said. "Every time we would make up a bunch of spots and get up there in the thick of things, we would come down pit road and have a problem with those lug nuts falling off."

The question is, what's going on in the pits? Why are these mistakes happening on a regular basis? Is it the imperfect nature of life on pit road? Or is it another adjustment of the new car which now seems to have a lug-nut problem popping up -- or in this case, off.

"[NASCAR] changed the rules on the stud lengths and I think that's probably the biggest thing that is different for our tire changers because that changes the timing a little bit," Kenseth said. "You have to be on the nuts longer to get them tight and I think the shoulder has changed a little bit on it. ... I can't really speak to anybody else, but I know that's been one of the challenges that we really had to look at this winter when they made that rules change -- to practice pit stops and you have to be on them longer, so that's really been the only change."

Technical issue, or just a technicality?

Final Turn: Why are teams having so many pit-road problems?
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