For the record, I have no idea why somebody would think it okay to run out onto the infield grass to chase an errant tire. I could see if maybe the race was under caution and the tire was sitting just onto the grass from pit road, but not half way to the flag stand, under green. At that point, it’s already too late to grab the tire to avoid the penalty from NASCAR, so you might as well let it go.
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, Marcos Ambrose’s gas man Jimmy Watts decided to chase a loose tire after a green flag pit stop and NASCAR was forced to throw a caution. Watts entered what NASCAR called an “unapproved area” and after the caution, he was booted from the track by NASCAR. No word yet on what further penalty Watts faces.
I’ve seen guys do some dumb stuff before, but this ranks right up there as one of the dumbest. All it would have taken was for somebody to lose it out of four (just like Bobby Labonte did) and you’re a goner. There is no where to hide in that grass from a 3500lb stock car bearing down on you at 150+ mph.
And to reader Kevin, no that was not me running out into the grass.
Loose Lugnuts Bite More Victims
A major issue on pit road so far this year in the Cup Series has been the outbreak of loose lugnuts. We saw a high profile case this weekend with Dale Jr. The problem lies partially in NASCAR’s new wheel stud rule. In the past, wheel studs in the Cup Series were very short. What this means in terms of pit stops, is that tire changers could hit lugs faster. It takes less time to take them off and tighten them with short studs. Now with longer studs, changers must slow down to get them tight.
The issue with longer studs and slowing down though, is that old habits die hard. Changers have gotten used to it taking a certain amount of time to tighten each lug, and now they must re-learn the feel and the timing. It can be a very difficult thing to overcome. And what makes it worse, is drivers and crew chiefs still expect pit stops to be done in a certain amount of time. They don’t want to hear excuses. They just want it done quickly, and done right.
To further compound the problem, loose lugnuts can be something that plagues a team for the rest of the race. When the wheel is left loose, it starts to wobble and vibrate. That movement and vibration will then cause damage to the hub and studs. With the studs damaged, there is a good chance the changer will not be able to get a wheel tight no matter how long he holds onto the lugs. The lug will feel tight, but under green the damaged threads will allow the lugs to work themselves loose.
You will see teams sometimes use wheel spacers as a quick fix to the problem. The spacer will in essence shorten the studs and change where the lugnut gets tight on the threads. But spacers take extra time to install, and that means lost track position. And lost track position means angry drivers and upset crew chiefs.
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on Mar 8th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
This might not be the right place to ask but in a situation like we had today with Ambrose’s gas man, why doesn’t NASCAR throw the caution but NOT open the pits. If they didn’t open the pits, it wouldn’t have affected the entire race outcome.
on Mar 8th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Thank you TC for discussing it because I was gonna ask about it for the ask the insiders wednesday question if you didn’t. I can’t believe he did that and I agree with John that it totally affected the entire race outcome. I don’t know that closing pit road would have been the answer since I am sure that there were already teams committed to coming down pit road when the gas man decided to dash after the tire. I don’t know it might just be me but common sense would be to NOT chase the tire…not even thinking about a car on the track losing it and flying through the grass at you…but what if you don’t see a car peeling out of its pitstall when your jogging back with the tire…or what if they don’t see you…then you’ll end up being a squashed gasman.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 5:33 am
This man had NOT been in the pits for 7 years…it was a reaction…without thinking…..just an overzealous teammate trying to help his team…a mistake, obviously….however, would they not have thrown the yellow to retrieve the tire regardless of this man’s actions?…
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 6:28 am
John: At the time of caution, NASCAR actually closes the pits every time. But in this case closing the pits wouldn’t have changed anything. The problem for many of the drivers caught a lap down stemmed from the fact that they had made their pit stops already and had lost so much track position in the process. The cycle wasn’t completed and they were left caught back.
Stanley: Yes, NASCAR would have needed to throw the yellow anyway to retrieve the tire. But that still doesn’t justify what Ambrose’s guy did. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to risk my life to chase a tire that got away, just so NASCAR will maybe not have to throw a caution.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 8:19 am
That gas man sure has his imitation of a deer at Pocono down pat.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I understand the caution, for the safety of the crew man. I even understand his reaction, I think. I guess what got every body so upset was that so many front runners were caught in the pits & held a lap because of this guy’s mistake. I know I was furious, Kahne finally had a car that was running good & he was now a lap down. Then to make matters worse he couldn’t catch a break for the lucky dog not once but twice. Even though he drove well & did pass the second place car I was still blaming the guy in the infield. How wrong was that? It just goes to show that regardless of the outcome a fan will place blame anywhere for their driver. I just knew without a shadow of a doubt that Kahne could have had a shot for the win if that guy hadn’t messed up his pit! Then I realized I was over reacting. Kahne had a good car but Kurt had the best car. It’s good to see different cars up front, it helps the sport. It makes fans like me get excited, sometimes that’s a good thing & sometimes its not.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Consider this…before yesterday, America didn’t know Jimmy from Adam. Now look, Jimmy is a celebrity and his move will forever be know as a the “Jimmy did Watt?”. I say Jimmy should be on Inside NASCAR tonight and reap a healthy appearance fee for his story and would likely be much more entertaining than Waltrip.
Hey, at least he didn’t intentionally ramrod his 3,500 lb COT into another COT after the cool down lap on pit lane!
On a serious note, Godspeed and prayers go out to the 3 persons killed in the small plane crash West of the track en route to AMS for the 500 on race morning.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Come on, we’ve seen crew members running after catch cans, pushing cars the full length of pit road, fighting and other crazy things. I’m sure even the Insider has done a few things that he wasn’t proud of. I happen to know Jimmy and he’s a smart guy and a damn good gasman. Not to mention, he’s a fireman and what they do takes quick reaction thinking. Now was it a mistake – yes, but not one to throw stones at him for.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:01 am
BW: I didn’t think I was throwing stones. I was calling it like I saw it. I’m sure he is a good gas man, as you don’t do it in the Cup Series for a good team if you aren’t. But running out to where he did was a very dangerous thing to do. And as a fireman, he should have known even more then everyone else that it was wrong. But everyone does boneheaded things sometimes, and I’m sure that is what this was. He had a momentary lapse in judgement. I just hope he doesn’t lose his hard card because of it.
I decided to write about it here, because I knew people were going to be interested in it. We will talk about it for a few days, and then we will move on. Thankfully for Jimmy and everyone in the race, no harm was done.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Was it a bone-headed move? Sure. Would NASCAR have thrown the caution if the tire kept rolling? Probably.
I watched the replay and it looks like the tire was starting to slow down. Would NASCAR have thrown the caution if the tire came to a stop? Who knows. I could see the officials letting it sit there until the cycle was complete. But if they did, and someone spun out coming out of 4, the tire could have become a projectile heading towards the crew members on pit road.
This isn’t the first time a yellow has come out during green flag stops, and it won’t be the last. The only difference is that now there is one person to blame. But if we are blaming people, shouldn’t Jeff Gordon be blamed for the yellow flag in the middle of green flag stops at Vegas?
It is up to the teams to finish the best they can. There were plenty of teams that were caught a lap down. Look at the #14 team. Due to some strategy, a mistake, luck, and good team work, they came back to finish 8th.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I want to address the lug nut issue. I understand completely why the studs have been getting shorter over the years and why the rules have changed to reverse this trend. Do the inspectors reject wheel studs with the threads removed from the tip down to where the lug engages the wheel? And wouldn’t this help mitigate the problem?
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 12:55 am
T.C.,
Where on pit lane can a crew member go without incurring a penalty? Could Jimmy Watts have waited for permission from a NASCAR official and then retrieved the tire without penalty?
On tonight’s “NASCAR Now,” another member of the 47 crew, rear tire changer D.J. Copp said he heard “Get that tire” in his headset. He also said, by the way, that a crew member of the neighboring pit actually pushed the tire back away from pit wall, since that competitor didn’t like having someone else’s tire in their area. That sounds like very poor sportsmanship, and not very neighborly.
T.C., could you go into a bit more detail about the length of the tire studs and spacers? How much longer does it take to install a lug nut with the new longer stud as opposed to the shorter ones used last season?
Why would NASCAR permit the use of spacers anyway? It seems to me using a spacer would prevent the lug nut from getting the full tight grip on the stud. Isn’t this a safety issue? Are the spacers glued onto the tire rim between the rim and the lug nut? If using a spacer adds time to a pit stop, why use them at all?
Sorry for all the questions, I’m just a curious guy!
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Kenny: While I don’t have my rulebook in front of me (I’ll try and remember to check later) I don’t believe a crew member can cross pit road. NASCAR would not have given a crew member permission to enter the grass to retrieve the tire. They would have thrown the caution at some point anyway and had a safety crew get the tire.
I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody called out on the radio to grab the tire, but as far out as it was, at that point it was too late.
If a tire from your car gets away, and ends up in another pit stall, there is no rule that says that team has to knock it down. You’d like to hope they would help you out, but they won’t allow your tire to screw up their stop. In any case, pushing it out to pit road seems a little ridiculous.
With the stud issue, in terms of the time it takes to actually install a single lugnut, we are talking about fractions of a second difference. But with 5 lugs per side, it adds up, and can add several tenths to a stop.
If you can rectify the problem of damaged studs with a spacer, I don’ t know why NASCAR wouldn’t allow it. It’s more of a danger to have a car driving around the track at speed with a wheel that could fall off. And teams use spacers all the time to get proper treadwidths. Spacers are installed behind the wheel, not over them. Adding spacers will certainly add time to a pit stop, but don’t you think its better to add time to the stop and fix the problem, then to have a fast stop and then have a wheel fall off and ruin your race and possibly somebody else’s?
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
What does NASCAR want from the guy? Ten pints of blood?
He possibly saved the life of one or more spectators had that tire got on the speedway and sent into the stands. He knows what he did wrong and there is no need to crucify the man!
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I could not believe that this happened. It really made it a boring race having more than half the field 2 or more laps down with no way to gain anything back. Especially the way Kurt Busch was running. If this wouldn’t have happened, I think that Kurt still would have won. But there probably would have been some better racing going on.
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
NASCAR is getting 4 races from the gas-man.
Lauren – if there was not way to gain anything back after going 2 laps down, how did Stewart do that very thing? I have raceview so I didn’t have to rely on the tv broadcast, and saw a lot of good racing going on away from the very front.
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
T.C.,
I didn’t read carefully enough to understand that the spacers were intended to cover the damaged threads. I need to pay closer attention! But even at that, doesn’t that mean there’s less of the stud for the lug to hold on to?
I hope you had a chance to see your colleague, D.J. Copp, talk about the loose tire on Monday’s “NASCAR Now.” D. J. Copp and Jimmy Watts both work on the 47 pit crew team, and so D.J. had the cat-bird seat. There’s video of his report (“Runaway Tire”) on ESPN,com http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/ but you have to use the arrows to sort through the video clips to find it. He said the whole incident began because Marcos stopped short and the rear of the 47 car was over the line into the 98’s pit behind them. D.J. said usually teams will be neighborly, but he diplomatically said there were issues between the two teams.
He said there were witnesses who saw someone from the 98 team (Paul Menard drives the 98) was seen using two hands to push the tire away from the pit wall (it was within the 47’s pit box), apparently to show his displeasure because Ambrose infringed on the 98’s territory.
What do you think of Copp’s account of the incident itself, and do you think the jerk from the 98 team should lose his hard card for a few races?
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
on Mar 12th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Kenny: Yes there is less of the stud for the lugs to grab onto, but you need to have an area of good threads for the lugs, or the wheel will continue to work itself loose.
With the tire incident, DJ is right. Normally teams will help each other out. I’ve certainly knocked down a loose tire before for a team pitted in front or behind my own, and I’ve seen guys do it for my team. But in this case that didn’t happen. Even with a few witnesses, I think it’s difficult to prove that a crew guy from the 98 did anything malicious. Without video, its a he-said, she-said situation. In any case, if the 47 crew had done things right, that tire would have been collected properly and this wouldn’t have ever been an issue. I know that sometimes tires have a mind of their own, but it’s still the job of the pit crew and the guys behind the wall to secure those tires.