SONOMA, Calif. — The Nos. 6 and 54 pit crews had a minor altercation during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
On Lap 52 of the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota led Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford onto pit road near the end of Stage 2. The two were pitted directly next to each other, with Gibbs’ crew in stall No. 16 and Keselowski’s in stall 17.
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Gibbs drove through Keselowski’s pit box on entry and nearly clipped Telvin McClurkin, Keselowski’s tire carrier, as the No. 6 crewmen leaped over the wall. The hesitation appeared to slow the No. 6 team’s stop, and upon its completion, McClurkin approached the No. 54 crew to express his displeasure.
The confrontation resulted in a brief burst of physical shoves between two RFK Racing crew members and three Joe Gibbs Racing crew members that was visible from the Sonoma Raceway media center before NASCAR officials intervened to break up the scrum.
Spokespersons for both JGR and RFK Racing described the incident to NASCAR.com and PRN Radio as a “disagreement” as the second stage came to an end.
Gibbs explained his view of the incident after finishing seventh, four spots ahead of Keselowski in the 37-car field.
“By NASCAR’s rules, you know, I’m the lead car because I’m in the pit box past where the 6 is and I’m in front of them as well,” Gibbs told TNT Sports. “We have these orange lines right there — as you can see, I’m sure they’ll show you after — where if I’m behind him, I have to go around those orange lines for it to be the rule. Going in, I have the right-of-way. So you know, they’re on the wall for a reason, they jump for a reason, and they kind of get out of the way. And those guys like to push it, and that’s kind of the consequence you pay. So it’s unfortunate for them that they had a penalty. Nothing malicious. It’s my right-of-way.”
Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, came off the pit box to help diffuse the situation.
“If we were in that pit box, I would expect him (Keselowski) to do the same [expletive] thing, so we’re good,” Bullins told No. 54 jackman Braxton Brannon. “It’s your right to drive through here. It sucks, but it is what it is.”
TNT Sports reported McClurkin expressed Gibbs’ car did hit the tire in his hands and twisted his wrist. McClurkin also told TNT he was OK and would continue pitting the rest of the afternoon.
A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed that officials reviewed the incident and expressed to the No. 6 team that the crew should have given more room for the No. 54 car and ruled Gibbs’ close entry unintentional, therefore not resulting in a penalty. Additionally, officials will review the altercation during the week and determine if there will be any penalties to come.
WATCH: RFK shares overhead view of pit stop, altercation
“I mean, I get it. It was overblown because you look up and people are scrapping and you’re wondering what the heck’s going on here,” said Chris Gabehart, Joe Gibbs Racing’s competition director. “So I understand why it was made a scene, but the truth of the matter is, the lead car in that instance has the right-of-way to the trailing-box car. It’s just really, really tough when they’re literally coming to pit road nose to tail. It doesn’t happen very often. So in that instance, and we all know on pit road how to deal with that, like everybody understands that the trailing car has got to give a gap so the leading car, so your guys can jump in between the two, but it’s just a really tight spot.”