MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The jack was about to drop Chase Elliott’s car last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the signal for him to fire out of his pit stall. But Elliott saw the crew in the box ahead still working on the right side of that car.
“I was all eyes on those guys because I knew the jack was fixing to drop for me, and I was going to have to make a pretty aggressive throttle input to try and slide the back of my car over to get enough angle to get out without having to back up,” Elliott said.
The jack dropped. Elliott shot out of his stall. He headed to the outside lane of pit road.
“A lot of times you’ll get cleared up to the (outside lane on pit road) wall and you’re not always clear,” Elliott said Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. “I typically, probably 90% of the time, always just look and keep an eye on things as they’re coming and I didn’t have a chance to look. I got cleared out there. I went, and I felt there at the last second that somebody was there, but I was too late.”
Elliott and Ryan Blaney hit on pit road. They continued but it was another case of contact on pit road this season. As the NASCAR Cup Series races today at Martinsville Speedway, another track with a narrow pit road, the question is what could happen next and could it put pit crew members in jeopardy?
“I’m not exactly sure that there is a fix other than all of us being really on our game while we’re driving around human beings that are out there at large risk and also aware of your competitors as they’re coming and going getting into their stall or getting up to speed,” Elliott said.
Pit road has become more important as a way to gain positions. With the field closer together it can be easier to gain spots on pit road as opposed to the track. But it also has been a place lately where cars have spun and contract has been made. Homestead, Martinsville and Darlington, site of next weekend’s race, have among the narrowest pit roads on the Cup circuit.
Last weekend’s race at Homestead also saw Josh Berry bounce off Kyle Larson’s car and spin, collecting Joey Logano. Both Berry and Logano spun into unoccupied pit stalls. Logano called for Homestead to widen pit road as part of potential renovation ...
