XFINITY Series pit road fire will be investigated; more testing at Indianapolis
RELATED: Crew member offers first person account of pit road fire at Richmond
NASCAR officials will take a closer look at the pit road fire that erupted during Friday’s XFINITY Series race at Richmond International Raceway and resulted in three crewmen being transported to a local hospital.
Anthony O’Brien, the rear-tire changer on the No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for driver Brendan Gaughan, and RCR gasman Josh Wittman, suffered burns when fuel ignited during a lap-113 pit stop in the ToyotaCare 250.
Wittman was released Saturday. O’Brien remained at a Virginia hospital until Monday, when he was released, according to team officials.
JGL Racing’s Clifford Turner, who covered O’Brien in an attempt to smother the flames when the tire changer jumped back across pit wall, was treated and released late Friday evening after inhaling fire extinguisher chemicals.
“The next step for us will be to do an analysis of that situation and we will be looking at three things,” Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR Vice President Innovation and Racing Development, said Monday. “What was the cause? Is there something … we could have even done even better to improve our procedures; and we’ll be looking at the clothing and equipment for the crewmembers to make sure there is something there that cannot be improved.”
It was believed that a problem with the fuel filler can’s coupler prevented it from sealing flush.
O’Brien was changing the left rear tire and Wittman was fueling the car when the spilled fuel ignited.
Crewmen that go over the wall to service a car on pit road during an event are required to wear uniforms and shoes that meet certain safety guidelines. They are also required to wear a helmet when going over the wall. Gloves and other items of clothing that also meet certain flame resistant/retardant guidelines are recommended but not required.
For crewmen fueling the cars, gloves and a head sock and/or helmet skirt that also meet safety standards are required, in addition to uniforms, shoes and helmets.
“I was impressed with the way the team jumped into action,” Stefanyshyn said. “I think it was handled very, very well not only by the fire crew by the entire NASCAR community.
“Had (everyone) not responded in such a good manner, I think the consequences could have been more dire.”
Single-Car Qualifying at Talladega
NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series qualifying will have a familiar look when each gets underway Saturday at Talladega.
After a brief experiment with multi-car qualifying at Talladega and Daytona, NASCAR officials have altered the process to feature no more than two cars on the track at the same time.
The change came after drivers blasted the sanctioning body at Daytona following crashes during qualifying there.
“I would say it’s somewhat different than we’ve done in the past,” Stefanyshyn said. “We will be sending cars out one at a time. The car will go for essentially three laps; the first lap will be to get the car up to speed, the second lap will be the lap which will be recorded or timed, and the third lap will be the lap which the car gets back into pit road.
“During the middle of the second lap, we will be bringing out the second car, so there will roughly be somewhere between a minute and a minute and a half between the cars. We should be able to get through this whole process in about 50 minutes.”
There will be two rounds of qualifying, with the order for the first round – in which all cars will participate – determined by random draw. After a 10-minute break, the 12 fastest from the first round will advance to the final round, with qualifying order based on slowest to fastest from the previous round.
The GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event is scheduled for Sunday, May 3 (FOX, 1 p.m. ET). The Winn Dixie 300 XFINITY Series race is set for Saturday (FOX, 3 p.m. ET).
Testing at Indianapolis
Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing), Sam Hornish Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports) and J.J. Yeley (BK Racing) spent Monday and Tuesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway taking part in a two-day Goodyear tire test.
The four will be on hand Wednesday for the open team test, along with Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing), Carl Edwards (Joe Gibbs Racing), Brad Keselowski (Team Penske), Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates), Casey Mears (Germain Racing), Paul Menard (Richard Childress Racing), Ricky Stenhouse Jr., (Roush Fenway Racing) and Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing).
Tire Audit Resumes
NASCAR officials took tires from two teams for further evaluation following Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at RIR. One set was taken from the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of driver Carl Edwards and three sets were taken from the No. 51 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet of driver Justin Allgaier.
The first- and second-place cars of Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) and the ninth-place entry of Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing) were also taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center.
On Tuesday, NASCAR announced post-race inspection at the R&D Center was completed, and there were no issues with either the cars or the tires taken.
Richmond Penalty Report
A season-low 10 penalties were called at Richmond, with seven for violations that occurred during the Toyota Owners 400.
For the first time this season, there were no speeding penalties handed down.
There have been 277 penalties called through the season’s first nine Sprint Cup events.