SPEEDWAY, Ind. — When Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for a pit-road infraction during Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway, the penalty cost him a shot at the lead and a possible victory.
The penalty, for passing a car or cars on the left when on pit road, is often referred to as “pulling up to pit” and is made by NASCAR officials in the control tower. According to the post-race infraction report, the infraction on Truex was called a “safety violation” for passing on entry to pit road.
It’s not one of the more common infractions among NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers. According to pit road statistics, Truex was the third driver in the series flagged for the infraction this season. Records show it was called only three times in the series in 2015.
“I understand that it’s always been a rule, you can’t pass to the left coming into the pits,” 2003 series champion Matt Kenseth said Tuesday during a break in testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “You can (pass) leaving them … (that) has always been my understanding of it. I think it’s always tough. Personally, I haven’t seen it. … but it’s just something that they haven’t really called, either very much or not at all, in years and years and years.
“I think it’s one of those things that, probably the letter of the law … again I haven’t seen it, but if you pass to the left, it’s technically against the rules; it’s just one that they haven’t called in a long time.”
Truex was running second to race leader Harvick when the field pitted under the final caution flag of the race at Lap 195 of the 267-lap race. As the field made its way down pit road, Truex pulled to the inside of Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing entry and shot forward into his pit box. After taking right-side tires and fuel, Truex was first off pit road in his No. 78 Toyota.
After returning to pit road to serve the penalty, Truex restarted 22nd and made it back to 10th by the end of the race.
“I think everyone knows, or think they know, the rules there,” Kenseth said. “It’s just that there’s something not being called and you’re trying to get every advantage you can and the cars are all so incredibly close to the same speed right now and the rules are so tight. Pit road is as competitive as the race track; you’re always trying to get any advantage you can with speed lines or what have you.”
Kenseth said the size of the track likely often plays a role in the maneuver as well, with shorter venues being where drivers are more likely to try and gain an advantage.
“There are some places where there have been some pretty questionable situations … like a Martinsville or somewhere like that,” he said. “You’ve got a speed line, people pull left and pass five cars coming to their pit stall. Places like that, they probably need to get it calmed down.
“Now when you have places like Kentucky … typically when you’re pulling into your pit stall you just gas it up, pull in there and stop. You really don’t think much of it. I didn’t really think that’s a track where typically you see that.”
Earlier this week, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that in addition to the rulebook stating it is illegal to pass to the left when pitting, the matter is “brought up in every drivers’ meeting.
“Has there been some driver pulling off just as they pull into their pits that kind of pull up alongside a car? Sure that’s happened,” he said.
O’Donnell said officials saw a “trend that’s getting bigger and bigger.”
Richard Childress Racing driver Paul Menard said the location of the pit box allowed Truex to accelerate once he passed the first of two timing lines in his section.
“He had a really good pit box where he could really accelerate hard,” Menard, who was also among the 12 drivers testing at Indy, said. “At some of these tracks you can’t be as aggressive as that. I was surprised at the penalty for sure. I always thought you couldn’t pull up … on the access road before you get to the commitment line, that’s kind of what we’re always told every week. But as far as on pit road, if you’re within your timing lines and you’re not speeding, I always thought that was fair game so I guess we need some clarification on that.”
