If you’ve been a TNI reader for a while, you know that both Journo and myself are big fans of the yearly Pit Crew Challenge. Each year, during the All Star race week, the best 24 pit crews do battle at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena for bragging rights and some serious cash. The event [...]
Archive for the ‘Over The Wall’ Category
Superspeedway Pit Stops Really Don’t Matter
April 11th, 2011 
T.C. As we get ready to head to Talladega this weekend, pit crew coaches across the sport will spend the week preaching to their crews about the importance of not making mistakes. Even if it means pit stops take a few extra seconds than normal, it’s more important to get things right, than it is to [...]
Posted in Over The Wall 
Tags: Crew Chief, Daytona, fuel, fuel only, mistake, pit crew, pit road, pit stop, superspeedway, talladega, tire carrier, Tire Changer, tires, two tire 
1 Comment »Do I Actually Have To Wear This?
March 17th, 2011 T.C. When you work in racing, you end up getting a lot of clothing. I even wrote a post about it a few years ago (see it here). We get shirts, hats, hoodies, coats, pants, shoes, firesuits, you name it. As part of the sponsorship deals the teams have, they make sure that we are branded [...]
Three Races In, Pit Stops Still Evolving
March 7th, 2011 T.C. So far this season, we’ve seen everything from tire carriers becoming catch can guys, to second gas men, and tire changers and jackmen hanging tires. This new fueling system has the teams trying absolutely anything to figure out a way to make pit stops faster. At this point however, the only thing the teams are really sure [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: dry break, fueling, gas can, gas man, Greg Biffle, las vegas, pit crew, pit stop, schultz 2 Comments »RIP Catch Can Man
February 4th, 2011 Journo Beginning in Daytona, for the first time in recent memory, there won’t be seven guys stepping off the wall to perform a pit stop. The time has finally come to bid farewell to the most forgettable, and apparently most replaceable, member of the pit crew, the catch can man. As we told you first early [...]
Chad Knaus Playing With Fire
January 30th, 2011 T.C. Caught beneath all the hustle and bustle of last week’s Sprint Media Tour was a very interesting bit about Hendrick Motorsports and their pit crew situation for 2011 (see articles here and here). Specifically, that Chad Knaus and his shop mate Steve Letarte had yet to really solidify their starting pit crew lineups for the season. [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: backup, Chad Knaus, fuel, hendrick motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, Over The Wall, pit crew, pit stop, Steve Letarte 17 Comments »The Calm Before The Storm
December 26th, 2010 T.C. With Christmas now behind us and New Years coming this week, the 2011 season will quickly be up on us. Only eight weeks stand between us and the 2011 Daytona 500. And teams know the clock is ticking. This week between Christmas and the New Year is traditionally an off week for the teams. While some [...]
Posted in In the Shop, Over The Wall Tags: 2011, crew, Daytona, NASCAR, pit crew, season, shop 3 Comments »Digesting The 24/48 Pit Crew Swap
November 9th, 2010 T.C. After several bad pit stops during the Texas race led to Chad Knaus replacing his own pit crew with that of the 24, Hendrick Motorsports announced today that the switch is now permanent. The seven over-the-wall guys for the 24 will pit the 48 for Phoenix and Homestead, and vice versa. Now, being a tire [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: Chad Knaus, hendrick motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, pit crew, pit stop, Steve Letarte, Texas 21 Comments »Always Be Ready For An Audible
October 25th, 2010 T.C. As pit crew members, we always have to be ready for anything. We’ve got to keep our eyes open for other cars (and our own) on pit road so as to not get hit during a stop. We have to be prepared to fix crash damage at a moment’s notice. We have to make spring rubber, [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: audible, Chad Walter, four tires, Gateway, Justin Allgaier, Nationwide Series, pit crew, pit stop, strategy, two tires No Comments »The Future Of NASCAR Pit Stops
October 14th, 2010 T.C. We had a question this week in our Ask The Insiders post about what the new six man pit stops will look like and I wanted to take this opportunity to expand a little further on my answer. Last weekend at California NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston confirmed to Scene Daily that both the Cup and [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: 2011, catch can, Cup Series, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, pit crew, pit stop, Ramsey Poston 2 Comments »