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NEWTON, Iowa -- Pit crew swaps mid-race are not common in NASCAR, but Joe Gibbs Racing made a change around the halfway point of Sunday's XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway that ultimately benefitted race-winner Sam Hornish Jr.
With teammate Daniel Suarez's No. 19 crew routinely beating Hornish's No. 18 off pit road and Erik Jones's No. 20 running several laps down due to a fuel pickup issue, an opportunity presented itself. The Nos. 18 and 20 pit crews swapped teams.
"I kind of talked to Steve (deSouza, executive vice president of NASCAR XFINITY/Development for Joe Gibbs Racing)," Chris Gayle, crew chief of the No. 18 team said after the race. "Once we knew the 20 was down -- they weren't going to be a factor in the race ... We had just struggled. Iowa's always tough because we're spoiled with having our (Sprint) Cup pit crews on normal weekends. The non-companions, we don’t have any familiarity with the pit crews we really use for these.
"The 19 had beaten us on a couple stops earlier and it had gotten down to where there is one stop left and if it's us and the 19 racing, I'm going to lose to them off pit road because they've beaten me in three previous stops. So to not do anything is going to be my fault."
Serving as the liaison, deSouza went between the two teams as the swap was contemplated.
"I went to talk to the 20 crew chief (Chris Gabehart) and say, 'Hey if we want to implement something like this are you good with it?' I went to him first," deSouza told NASCAR.com. "And he said, 'Listen, we are laps down. Whatever you think is the best thing to do, do it.' "
The switch Sunday proved successful as Hornish went on to win his first NASCAR race since the 2015 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He led 183 of the 250 laps in the race, including the final 111 circuits.
Suarez, last week's winner at Michigan, finished in fourth and left Iowa still holding the lead in points. Jones finished 27th, seven laps down.
Gayle pulled the move out of a playbook even six-time champion crew chief Chad Knaus has used.
One of the most well-known pit swaps came at Texas Motor Speedway in the fall 2010 race between the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Jeff Gordon (No. 24) and Jimmie Johnson (No. 48). The teams swapped pit crews mid-race after Gordon was involved in a crash in the race. Johnson went on to catch JGR's Denny Hamlin for the title in the final two races when the switch was made permanent.
The race win was the ninth victory for JGR in 14 XFINITY Series races this season.