"Driver code" has been a hot issue lately, but it isn't the only set of unwritten rules in NASCAR. Pit road has its own code.
Drivers and crew members can do several things during a pit stop to hinder other teams on pit road: positioning cars, tire rolls and hoses can all come into play. Each can be -- and has been -- used to make tasks harder for other teams during pit stops. When this happens, crew members have been known to enforce their own code.
This is an excerpt from the book "Money Stop" about an incident years ago involving a driver and front tire changer:
"The year was '93-'94, somewhere in there, when Geoff Bodine drove the QVC car. Bodine came in the pits and ran over my shoe and knocked over my carrier. I told myself, 'If I get done with this stop, and that car is still in the pits, I'm going down there.' We ended up getting our stop done before they did and I went down there to the window and started pounding him in the head. It wasn't something I was proud of but it happened. It cost me $2,500 bucks, but it was worth it."
Stewart-Haas Racing pit coach Joe Piette helps explain pit road code and what exactly it means.
"Is it in writing? Hell, no!" Piette said. "It's just something that you learn as you pit week in and week out. Back in the day, if you were pitted next to a team you didn't care for or had issues with, you did everything you could during a race to mess them up.
"Leaving your sign board down to prevent the car in front of you from getting in their pit stall clean, leaving tires on pit road in the best location to be a nuisance to the team around you, not helping the team around you catch tires, it just goes on and on.
"Heck, I've grabbed a sign board back when we ran glass windshields hoping to damage/crack the windshield of another team's car because they cut us off, blocked us in, or just weren't playing nice! Pit road is tight and teams can help or hurt each other."
But pit road code also allows for forgiveness when it's followed properly, Piette explained.
"This past weekend one of our SHR cars had two pit stops where a tire from another team rolled into our pit stall during our stops," Piette recounted. "The first time it didn't slow our stop down, but the second time it cost our team about 2 extra seconds. There were no post-pit stop altercations, no equipment or fists flying. Why? Because the team that made the mistakes admitted to it and apologized for what happened, both during the race and after the race.
"I received a lengthy text message on Monday morning from one of the other team's over-the-wall guys simply apologizing and taking full responsibility for the mistake. No doubt there was nothing intentional on their part. Hey, we are all human and we make mistakes. I appreciate the other team members reaching out to us and clearing the air. They are class acts.
"If we end up pitted next to them again next week, there is no doubt they would help us however they can and we will do the same for them. Why do I know this, because they understand the unwritten pit crew code!"
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