Bad pit stops.  We’ve all had them.  We are all going to have more of them.  It doesn’t matter whether you are on a Cup crew or a Hooters ProCup team.  When we step off the wall, we have a lot of tasks to complete in a very short amount of time.  And no matter how much we practice and prepare, sometimes things are just going happen.  A few things you eventually learn (hopefully sooner then later) is that no two pit stops are ever the same and absolutely anything can, and probably will happen.

Early in my career, during one of my very first opportunities to do a green flag pit stop, the lugnut gremlin bit me.  Our team was running well in the race, and our pit work up to that point had been very good.  We were at the end of our fuel run, and it was time to bring our driver to pit road for service.  Everything went pretty smooth on the right side, but I can’t say the same about the left side.  I came around, hit five off, pulled my tire, and somewhere between me being a little over anxious and my carrier missing the hang just a little bit, we had a lugnut pop off.  Watching that lugnut hit the ground was probably one of the worst feelings in the world.  I got the other four lugs tight while my carrier scrambled to pick up the fifth.  Needless to say, by the time we were done, we had taken our driver out of contention.

It sucks how one bad stop can turn a good race right around.  When it was over I felt like crap, the crew chief was mad at us, and I know the driver was disappointed (even if he didn’t come out and say it). 

A big reason why I do what I do is because I’m a competitive person.  I want to be apart of the race and help my team win.  But part of being involved is knowing that if you screw up, it hurts the team.   

When people are involved in anything, mistakes are going to happen.  Sometimes jackmen are going to miss their pegs, tire changers are going to knock lugs off, and carriers are going to miss hangs.  The thing to remember is that when something does go wrong you can’t carry it over to the left side, or to the next stop.  You already lost that time, and you aren’t going to get it back.  Finish the stop right, and minimize the damage done.  And along with that, if somebody else on the crew has a problem, it is important to know that you cannot make up the time for them.  If I slip and fall coming around to the left and am behind, my carrier shouldn’t speed up hanging the tire to try and fix the situation.  Most likely, he’s going to end up rushing and make things worse.

All we can do to combat these bad stops is to be as prepared as possible and to remain calm.  Bringing extra lugnuts with us over the wall is one way to be ready.  Instead of taking the time to find a lug on the ground, grabbing one off your belt or helmet can usually speed up the process.  You will see both carriers and changers have spare lugs on them.   And if you can’t stay cool under pressure and when things go wrong, you’ll never make it in this business.  Freaking out and getting angry are just going to slow you down.

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