Kyle Larson’s pit crew ripped the quickest pit stop of the NASCAR Cup Series trip to Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday and one of the fastest of the season — just in time for the summer stretch.
Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports crew of front changer Blaine Anderson, tire carrier RJ Barnette, rear changer Calvin Teague, jackman Brandon Johnson and fueler Brandon Harder completed a four-tire pit stop in 9.281 seconds, the second-quickest stop of 2023.
RELATED: Nashville results
The stunning speed resembles a growing trend through pit lane: Teams are only getting faster as summer heats up. Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing crew of front changer Bryan Backus, tire carrier Lamar Neal, rear changer Marcus Horton, jackman Josh Sobecki and fueler Justin White turned in a series-best stop of 9.185 seconds on June 11 at Sonoma Raceway.
In fact, five of the top eight four-tire stops this season have been performed in just the past two races, with Austin Cindric’s third-best stop at Sonoma, Daniel Suárez’s fifth-fastest at Nashville and William Byron’s eighth-quickest at Nashville joining Larson and Busch.
Crews will need to maintain their quick work in the inaugural Chicago Street Race on Sunday (5 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), a 2.2-mile street course that will see cars pitted with the right side nearest pit wall, opposite of the typical week-to-week stop.
See below to analyze additional pit-road statistics through last weekend’s race at Nashville, courtesy of Racing Insights.
TEN FASTEST FOUR-TIRE PIT STOPS IN 2023
| Rank | Track | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sonoma | Kyle Busch | 9.185 seconds |
| 2 | Nashville | Kyle Larson | 9.281 seconds |
| 3 | Sonoma | Austin Cindric | 9.301 seconds |
| 4 | Richmond | Corey LaJoie | 9.309 seconds |
| 5 | Nashville | Daniel Suárez | 9.333 seconds |
| 6 | Charlotte | William Byron | 9.383 seconds |
| 7 | Charlotte | Ty Gibbs | 9.443 seconds |
| 8 | Nashville | William Byron | 9.443 seconds |
| 9 | Charlotte | William Byron | 9.504 seconds |
| 10 | Kansas | Bubba Wallace | 9.509 seconds |