NASCAR announced on Wednesday the pit procedures that will be used for the Aug. 8 Xfinity Series road course race at Road America and the Aug. 30 Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
The pit procedures detail what will happen under cautions for incidents, stage break caution periods, as well as pit crew rules, restart order and pit penalty guidelines.
Xfinity at Road America
- At stage breaks, a full pit cycle will give teams two opportunities to pit.
- At non-stage break cautions, a full pit cycle will give teams two opportunities to pit. An optional quickie yellow provides one opportunity to pit.
- Pit crews will consist of six crew members. Five crew members to service the car only, including one fueler and one to assist the driver.
- Pit stops must be completed in a certain time period, measured from the yellow lines at each end of pit road: Green flag stops have a 60-second minimum; yellow flag have an 80-second minimum.
- Teams may add fuel OR change four tires per pit stop.
Restart order
- Lead lap cars that did not pit.
- Lead lap cars that pitted one time.
- Lead lap cars that pit twice.
- Lap(s) down cars that did not pit.
- Lap(s) down cars that pit once.
- Lap(s) down cars that pit twice.
- Free pass, wave around and penalty cars.
Pit penalties
Restart at tail end: Exceeding yellow flag 80-second maximum on pit road; pitting after first missed opportunity to pit; cars that do not maintain speed, do not maintain position or fail to stay nose to tail at all times; Cars that do no immediately catch up to field between pit stops during full pit cycle; competitors that impede or interfere with another’s ability to enter/exit pit road.
Pass through: Leaving pit road prior to the green flag 60-second minimum.
Two-lap penalty: Changing tires and adding fuel on any pit stop; change tires under green (unless approved by NASCAR).
Truck Series at Gateway
- All caution periods will be Quickie Yellows. This is everyone’s opportunity to pit to add fuel and/or make adjustments (Lead Lap and Lap Down trucks all pit together).
- No changing tires except during stage breaks. NASCAR will work with teams on flat tires or damaged rims.
- Fuel may be added at any time.
- There will be three stages – Stage 1 ends at Lap 55, Stage 2 will end on Lap 110 and the final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 160.
- During the stage cautions, teams may perform any normal pit stop adjustments. They may add fuel and change tires.
- If teams choose not to pit during the stage caution, their trucks will stop on the backstretch behind the caution truck.
- When instructed by NASCAR officials, teams have three minutes to complete their work. If they continue to work after the three-minute mark, they will restart at the rear of the field. The order they entered pit road is the order they will line up off of pit road.
- Trucks that elected to pit will line up behind those trucks remaining on track - lead lap trucks followed by lap down trucks, the free pass, waive around trucks, and any penalty trucks.
- All safety equipment is required during pit stops, including stage cautions.
“We believe these updated procedures are the best fit for the lone NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series standalone race of 2020,” Brad Moran, Managing Director of the Truck Series, said in a media release. “Given the importance of this race in the Triple Truck Challenge and the Gander Trucks playoffs, we wanted to provide our fans with more green-flag racing and place the fate of the bonus in the drivers’ hands. These procedures have worked well for us at Eldora Speedway, and we know our fans will be treated to the same type of excitement expected from the Gander Trucks.”
