BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR officials will visit World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in the next week to begin exploring possible changes to its pit-road configuration, a NASCAR competition executive confirmed to two reporters Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The planned trip follows an incident on Gateway’s pit road during the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Sept. 12 in which crewmen were struck in a chain-reaction, multicar crash.
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According to Racing Insights, pit road at Gateway ranks as the second-narrowest pit lane on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule at just 25 feet wide from the outer wall to the inner wall, only behind Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s width of 24 feet.
Pit entry became blocked at Lap 50 of the O’Reilly Auto Parts race after a stack-up turned Rajah Caruth’s No. 88 Chevrolet perpendicular in pit lane. The left-rear corner of his car slammed a tire out of the hands of the No. 19 team’s tire carrier. Simultaneously, Nick Sanchez slid and crashed into the right-rear quarter panel of the No. 19 Toyota driven by Brent Crews, contacting rear changer Bryan Backus. No injuries were reported.
In reflecting on the incident, Backus did not immediately feel change at Gateway’s pit road was necessary but expressed he’s open to anything to make pit road safer.
“I think NASCAR is doing the best they can with what they have and everything,” Backus told NASCAR.com Thursday. “It is a little tight at certain places. I mean, it’d be great if they could widen it out, but I don’t know if that’s even a possibility. Like, obviously, Gateway’s really tight and Indy’s really tight, but I think they’re doing probably the best they can with what they’ve got.”
No plans for changes have been determined at this time. However, the visit to study possible changes indicates a look to potentially widen pit lane to afford competitors — both behind the wheel and on pit road — more room to safely operate.