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It's no longer the pits, figuratively speaking, when setting up shop in a pit stall on the backstretch at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Because it is the only track that still features pit stalls on the front (Nos. 1-22) and back (Nos. 23-43) of the track, teams forced to pit on the backside of the tiny, half-mile bullring often found themselves at a competitive disadvantage, hitting pit road only after those stopping on the frontstretch had already been in for service.
Teams pitting on the frontstretch entered pit road at the exit of Turn 4 while those pitting on the back remained behind the pace car until they reached the exit of Turn 2 and were allowed to drop down onto the backstretch of pit road.
That changed in 2002 when track officials began requiring all cars to enter pit road in Turn 2, regardless of where their pit stall was located.
Now, teams pitting on the frontstretch must maintain pit road speed all the way around to their respective pit stalls before returning to the track in Turn 1.
Those pitting on the backstretch get service first, but must also maintain pit road speed all the way back around to Turn 1, still utilizing pit road, before returning to the track as well.
It hasn't lessened the advantage of qualifying on the pole and choosing the first pit stall closest to the pit-out area in Turn 1 – that remains a prime piece of real estate regardless of track location. Matt Kenseth, winner of the spring race at BMS, started on the pole and was pitted in pit stall No. 1.
But Kenseth also won from a backstretch pit stall (in the 2013 night race at BMS) as did Kasey Kahne (in the spring race of '13).
Four of those finishing in the top 10 in this year's spring race at Bristol pitted on the backstretch.
When under green, teams pitting on the frontstretch enter pit road off of Turn 4 while those pitting on the backside of the track enter at Turn 2.
BMS hosts the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday night with the running of the UNOH 200. The Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race is set for Friday night and on Saturday the track hosts the annual Irwin Tools Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM).
Split Decision
NASCAR officials took no action beyond obtaining the splitters from the Team Penske No. 2 and 22 entries prior to last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, leaving most folks to wonder what all the fuss was about.
On Sunday morning, officials said the splitters on the cars of Brad Keselowski (No. 2) and teammate Joey Logano (22) were "so close ... we just asked the team to err on the safe side and asked them to switch to a clean splitter."
The two pieces were evaluated this week at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.
A Reason for Increase in Violations
There number of violations on pit road this past weekend at Michigan tripled compared to the series' visit there in June. However, the June race was cut short by rain, with only 138 of the scheduled 200 laps completed.
This past weekend's race saw 24 penalties handed down for pit road miscues compared with eight in the series' first stop at the 2-mile track.
Tires Good to Go
The tire codes for this weekend's Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series races at Bristol are unchanged from recent combinations used at the concrete half-mile, according to Goodyear officials.
It is the only track where this particular set of tire codes are currently used.