NASCAR executive responds to the area Jeff Gordon wishes to see changed
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RELATED: Gordon wants one more pit road change
Jeff Gordon‘s suggestion for changing the way NASCAR officials police speeds on pit road has merit, according to at least one NASCAR official, but it’s unlikely a new system will be adopted anytime soon.
“The timing loops really play into our current timing and scoring system, so we believe it’s the most fair system to have today,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said Monday.
“But as we look forward … and as we integrate our timing and scoring system potentially with the Pro System and a lot of the new technology at the race track, I think you could see us evolve to that potentially in the future.”
Two weeks after the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion was busted for speeding entering pit road at Martinsville Speedway, Gordon admitted the violation “was just us trying to take advantage of speed lines.”
The infraction, which came on Lap 462 of the 500-lap STP 500, dropped the Hendrick Motorsports driver from first to 22nd. He rallied in the closing laps to finish ninth.
On Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Gordon called for changes that would eliminate the use of pit road timing lines to monitor speeds. Instead, he said, pit road speeds should be uniform from the entrance to the exit of pit road.
Under the current system, depending on the location of the timing lines and where a team’s pit box is located, drivers can exceed the designated pit road speed limit either just before entering their pit stall or after exiting, as long as they slow to the correct speed before reaching the next timing line.
“What we do is find pit stalls to try to get around that,” Gordon said. “So we’re ramping up and slowing down and that’s what got us in Martinsville. We were just too aggressive with it.”
NASCAR instituted pit road speed limits shortly after the start of the 1991 season, on the heels of a pit road fatality in the ’90 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
To lessen the danger on pit road, NASCAR initially banned the changing of tires under the yellow flag during a race; later a plan that designated cars as odd or even numbered based on qualifying position, and that determined when each would be allowed to pit under yellow, was put into place.
By the time the series reached North Wilkesboro Speedway for the 1991 First Union 400, NASCAR officials had adopted pit road speed limits for each venue.
During the next decade officials using stopwatches monitored pit-road speeds. The current electronic system didn’t come into play until 2005.
“There is some gaming that goes on sometimes during a race,” O’Donnell said of the teams’ attempts to make the most of the system, “but it’s the most fair system, we believe, to have in place today.
“But (Gordon’s) right in terms of something we want to work together on in the future and continue to improve upon.”
After six teams were penalized for speeding on pit road at Martinsville, only one was nabbed at Texas.
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