NASCAR: Pit Crews At Fault For Some Darlington Finishes

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Being part of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pit crew is truly one of those thankless jobs that you often hear people talking about. Every time that a car hits pit road the crew is expected to get them out of that pit stall in 12 seconds or less. When a pit crew hits their spots and pulls off a fast stop, it’s expected. When a pit crew misses the mark and the stop takes 13 or 14 seconds, they catch a lot of flack.

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It’s kind of like being a kicker in the NFL; you’re expected to drill the 50-yarder to win the game and when you shank it the entire loss suddenly becomes your fault.

In NASCAR there is a lot that goes into putting a car on the track that is capable of running well or winning races. Much like the kicker who misses the field goal at the end of the game; there were probably plenty of other moments before that moment that could have potentially won the game for the team. In NASCAR it’s often unfair to say one particular thing is holding a race team back when it’s often a series of things that are the issue.

However, on Sunday night in Darlington it was the pit crews that were holding back a few NASCAR drivers.

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Coming into Darlington Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson were all in different positions in the standings but all needed to win to ensure their spot in the Chase. Gordon who is currently in on points has a safety net that the others lack but his goal to win his first race in 2015 was just the same.

At various points throughout the night Gordon, Stewart and Larson each seemed to have cars capable of running towards the front of the field and contending for the win. All three of them ran inside of the top-four at one point or another with Larson and Stewart leading laps. Despite having cars that could have contended for the win, the highest finish of the three was Larson in 10th place. Stewart and Gordon finished 15th and 16th respectively.

The main reason for these three not having better finishes was the performance of their pit crews throughout the night.

Larson’s crew performed the best of the three. The No. 42 team only lost position on pit road a little more than 50 percent of the time and often it was only a couple of spots. That being said, a more consistent performance could have pushed Larson towards the front of the field.

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In the instance of Gordon and Stewart, their pit crews consistently lost them positions the entire night. On average Stewart’s team lost him 3-5 positions on the track per stop. In Gordon’s case there were a couple of stops where he gained a spot or two but on average his team also lost him 2-3 spots per stop and a couple of times he lost five or more spots on pit road.

At one point during the race Stewart tried to perk his crew up over the radio by telling them that they are a team and he had some mistakes of his own. Yes, he is right that they are a team but he was holding up his end of the deal as far as I could see from where I was sitting.

There are very few cars that come to the track each weekend that are strong enough to overcome giving up track position on pit road. Thus far in 2015 Gordon, Larson and Stewart have proven that they do not have those types of cars. Therefore, when it’s a race when one of them does have a car that could win it’s even more critical that their pit crews step it up.

I am not saying that one of these drivers should have won Sunday but all three of them certainly should have finished better than where they did. While the pit crew struggles might not mean much for Larson and Stewart who are most likely going to miss the Chase, Gordon needs to figure something out fast. Gordon and the No. 24 team could be looking at an early exit from the playoffs if their poor pit road performance continues while Larson and Stewart could once again be looking at winless seasons.

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