LOUDON, N.H. — NASCAR officials reiterated their policing of the sanctioning body’s pit road policy during the drivers’ meeting prior to Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), stressing that cars remain single file when coming onto pit road, that passing is allowed “only to the right” and that passing is officiated as “front bumper to front bumper.”
The issue arose following last weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway when driver Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for passing on entry to pit road as he passed race leader Kevin Harvick on the left side while on pit road during a round of pit stops under caution. Truex (Furniture Row Racing) was second behind Harvick when he pulled his No. 78 Toyota to the inside and shot forward into his pit box, momentarily pulling ahead of the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.
First off pit road after the pit stop, Truex restarted 22nd as a result of the penalty.
Language included in Sunday’s drivers’ meeting video presentation outlined various race processes and included remaining single file, with passing only on the right.
“There’s been a lot of discussion and dialogue this week regarding pit-road rules,” Sprint Cup Series Managing Director Richard Buck said. “I want to take a moment review the rules and explain how we will officiate those rules. …
“Under caution, as mentioned in the video, no pulling up to pit. Remain in line, single-file, behind the caution car and maintain your position. Vehicles must maintain a reasonable speed behind the caution car. Reasonable speed is a judgement call and will be made by the NASCAR officials. You must enter pit road single-file, nose to tail, bumper to bumper and maintain pit road speed.
“Passing is only to the right once the car in front of you commits to his pit stall. Passing is defined and will be officiated in the same way as we do during the race on the race track — front bumper to front bumper.”
Drivers had previously noted there have been many instances of drivers pulling ahead of other competitors when pulling into their pit boxes on pit road.
“I saw him gas up after the timing line and make a pass,” Paul Menard , driver of the No. 27 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, said of the Truex incident during a test earlier this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “He had a really good pit box where he could really accelerate hard. At some of these tracks you can’t be as aggressive as that.”
On Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch said he had “seen those moves being made before on pit road” without officials calling a penalty.
“That’s why I think more and more guys have gone into that have been trying to do that,” he said. “We play the timing lines way too much and so that was just some that was out there for (Truex) to play with and try … he did and they busted him for it.”
NASCAR uses timing lines embedded underneath pit road to monitor the speed of cars as they enter and exit the pits and pass through each section. The system uses measurements of distance over time to determine how fast cars are traveling when on pit road.
Drivers typically increase their speed after passing the first timing line in which their pit stall is located, since stopping for service will increase the overall time spent in that section.
Truex was not judged to be speeding when he made the move.
There were no questions from drivers about the process following Buck’s comments.