(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

When the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series open the season next month at Daytona International Speedway, few things will look different from 2019. Teams and drivers may have changed places, but the actual race format will appear largely similar. 

That’ll continue for the majority of the year, too. But at a handful of standalone events for each tour, a host of new changes will see the pit sequence and subsequent list of potential strategy plays change significantly. 

NASCAR shared the following picture to break down all of the changes: 

An initial read of the new implementations can make them seem confusing, but it’s fairly simple once broken down. Those that have enjoyed a race at a local asphalt short track have likely seen something similar done. 

What’s happening?

At three races for both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series, NASCAR will utilize a new pit procedure that aims to essentially eliminate live pit stops. Only the eight crew members on a team’s roster – including a mandatory allotment of four servicemen, one fueler and a driver assistant – are permitted to go over the wall. 

The procedural change will take place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Iowa Speedway and Road America for the Xfinity Series. Truck competitors will trial the procedure at Iowa, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. 

In these events, teams can no longer gain or lose spots based on the speed of their pit stops. Positions will change on pit strategy alone.

Each team will be given two opportunities to pit on all but quickie yellow cautions, but there’s a catch. On oval tracks teams can only take fuel and two tires on a stop, and on road courses they can only take four tires or add fuel. If they want to take additional tires on an oval or make the opposite addition on a road course, they’ll need to pit again on the second opportunity. 

Any teams that choose to break protocol on a stop under yellow or pit under green will be given a two-lap penalty, with the sole exception of stops made to repair damage with NASCAR approval. 

Once stops are complete, the field will be reshuffled based on their pit strategies. Vehicles that didn’t pit will move to the front of the field, followed by those that pitted once. Teams that pit twice will follow, with the free pass, wave around and penalized vehicles slotting behind them. Competitors on the same strategy will be ordered based on their running order prior to the pit sequence. 

Why are they doing this?

1) Money

There are a few incentives for this change, and they’re largely obvious when thought out. 

First up is the obvious cost savings. While not necessarily substantial in the grander scheme of the whole season, the decision to limit crew sizes and effectively remove live pit stops disincentivizes teams from flying out crews from the NASCAR Cup Series or elsewhere. 

This won’t have a large effect on the top teams in each tour, but should aid smaller organizations that will now be able to allocate those resources elsewhere. Martins Motorsports owner Tommy Joe Martins tweeted to that effect after the announcement. 

2) Pit Strategy

The one obvious effect of this play at the front of the field will be the change to pit strategy that comes with it. 

In many Xfinity and Truck races, the strategies seem simple. Teams come to pit road on each stage break, take four tires and fuel, and then roll on to the finish. The Xfinity races often have a finale stop during Stage 3, and competitors may add an additional stop or two depending on the track and timing of cautions. 

That can keep varied pit strategies from breaking out, and result in the same drivers leading the way for the majority of the race. 

Under the new rules, leaders will be tasked with a decision – make one stop and maximize track position, or take tires and take the risk of driving through the field. In theory this incentivizes teams to make more strategy plays, though its true impact remains to be seen. 

3) Parity

They may largely go unnoticed, but some of the teams that are likely to benefit most from this move are groups like Jeremy Clements Racing, Henderson Motorsports and Young’s Motorsports. 

Those organizations often struggle to match the speed and resources of NASCAR’s top teams. But in the moments when they punch above their weight, their biggest struggle tends to be pit stops. How many times has an underdog driver found themselves in contention for a top-10 or better, only to fall back during a late round of pit stops and never regain track position? 

With these changes, underfunded teams with pace need only to play the correct strategy to stay in contention. This may ultimately only account for a few positions at year’s end, but those could prove substantial under the right circumstances. 

What are the potential downsides?

1) Lost Work

First and foremost, this change is going to cost some hard-working crew members work. The lost opportunities may only account for a few races this year, but it could quickly snowball into much more if the implementation proves successful to the sanctioning body. 

That may be inevitable regardless of next year’s success, as the motorsports industry continues to contract and consolidate resources. But this is one of the first bold moves to hint at eliminating these positions outright, following cuts in crew size over recent years. 

Pit crews contain some of the hardest-working members of the garage and a sizable portion of the paddock’s diversity. A bit of the sport’s character would be lost with those that could potentially fall by the wayside. 

2) Restart Troubles

This isn’t something that pops up every week, but invariably a few races each year are impacted by stretches where race control struggles to get the field gridded correctly for a restart. Drivers cross the line three-wide, one or more protesting their position. Others simply refuse to give up a spot. Brad Keselowski was even black-flagged with 14 laps remaining at Bristol Motor Speedway last April for failing to line up in the correct place. 

Take all of those issues and add the complexity of the new pit sequences. That could add confusion and lead to long caution periods or mistaken restarts. This would be the quickest way to drum up backlash against the format, with fans frustrated while waiting for racing, or confused by errant positioning on a restart. 

In theory, this should be avoidable. Having to cross-reference running order at the end of the previous run and account solely for chosen strategies should make for a gridding process not altogether more complex than the previous race off of pit road. 

But the risk of failure is there nonetheless. 

3) Tradition

Arguing for tradition in modern NASCAR would seem to be a moot point, particularly in the current climate of necessary change. But for some of the sport’s old-school fans, the pit sequence is as much a part of the race as lapped traffic and dirty air. 

There’s a certain magic to seeing drivers slam their brakes and try desperately to reach the upper limit of their pit road speed allowance. Kyle Busch has made an art form out of the pit sequence in recent years, often gaining seconds on his competitors by braking later and maximizing his pace. 

The beauty of the stop itself is also worth celebrating. The best teams can perform their pit sequence like a delicate dance, moving in unison ass lug nuts bounce across the ground and fuel splashes into the car. 

Seeing controlled stops for the minor tours isn’t a new concept. The Truck Series famously started with a halfway break and competition cautions prior to the modern move to Cup-style pit stops. But live stops have become synonymous with NASCAR racing on the national level. A change away from them – even in this small scale – is likely to sit poorly with a certain subset of the fanbase. 

Is this going to succeed?

It’s difficult to say. If you’ve read to this point of the article, you’ve probably already made your decision on the move. 

Some love it, pointing to the potential cost savings and elevated parity as a positive sign. Others despite it, considering the move to be another gimmick that’s going to damage the racing and add unnecessary complexity. 

Both sides have solid points to stand on. But before you make a committed decision about the move, consider waiting until the races have been ran and analyze the effect these decisions have on them. 

This is one of many ideas NASCAR has tried in recent years – remember the caution clock? – and it’s likely far from the last they sanctioning body will consider moving forward. It could be a hit that opens up the door for more standalone at short tracks and road courses, or everything could fail from the start and it could be quickly abandoned. 

No one knows for sure how it will play out. We’ll all find out together in a few months. 

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Aaron Bearden Featured NASCAR XFINITY Series Truck Series