NASCAR: Pit-road setup at Kentucky that nabbed 27 worked properly

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Sunday, June 14, 2009

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SPARTA, Ky. – With 27 penalties for speeding on pit road – including 25 for speeding when exiting the pits – Nationwide Series drivers questioned whether the speeding zone at the end of pit road was working properly during the Meijer 300 on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.

The driver caught the most was Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards, who was called for speeding three times.

“We went slower and slower and still got caught over and over,” Edwards said. “Their last loop was not right. That’s it. My pit-road speed was 4100 [RPM] and I do this every week. Maybe twice I’ve got caught on pit road, and I knew it [in the past].

“They caught me the first time, so I put it down to 4000 and drove a car-length past the last cone and I still got caught. And then I went even slower and got caught again. It’s like being on the basketball court and taking a 3-point shot and them saying, ‘No, the line is somewhere else’ but you don’t know where it’s at, so I don’t know what speed I’m supposed to go.”

Nineteen drivers were caught speeding throughout the night. Pit-road speed was 45 mph, and drivers get a five mph tolerance. NASCAR Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said many of the penalties were a fraction of a mile-per-hour quicker than the tolerance.

“We always check the system before the event starts,” Balash said. “We’re very confident in our pit-road scoring system. If we had issues there, it would be affecting the whole field. It only affected a small amount of the field, and we’re very confident our system was correct.

“We’re confident with the results that we had. We’re good with the results.”

Among the drivers caught were three of the top five drivers – winner Joey Logano, third-place Brad Keselowski and fifth-place Justin Allgaier.

Logano was one of the few to believe he actually was speeding, but he was nailed entering pit road.

“I [messed] up coming down pit road,” Logano said. “I didn’t think it was a big deal at that point in the race.”

No one thought it was a pace-car issue where the pace car could have been going too fast or had a faulty speedometer prior to the event. During one of the pace laps, the pace car goes pit-road speed so drivers can check their tachometers to make sure they have an accurate reading of pit-road speed.

“This is speculation – the cone was not in the proper place or the speed trap wasn’t calibrated right,” Keselowski said. “There was no way we could go all the way down pit road at the same speed and you were speeding in one [speed trap]. I know I held my position down pit road. Something was off on that last spot.”

While Logano and Keselowski were among those who rebounded from their penalties, Edwards did not. Granted, he struggled all night with his car but ended up three laps down in 20th at least partly because of the penalties.

“Like it or not, NASCAR messed up the final pit-road exit loop,” Edwards said. “They just messed it up. I’m real upset about it, but I know they’re doing the best they can.”

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Comments

18 responses to "NASCAR: Pit-road setup at Kentucky that nabbed 27 worked properly". Post a Comment.

1

kahnefan said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 9:22 AM
For that many to get caught, either the system wasn't working properly, or the pace car didn't give off the proper speed, because something isn't right when at one pit stop you have 7 drivers get caught in the same spot, that just don't happen.
2

kahnefan said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 9:23 AM
For that many to get caught, either the system wasn't working properly, or the pace car didn't give off the proper speed, because something isn't right when at one pit stop you have 7 drivers get caught in the same spot, that just don't happen.
3

Phoenix987 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Yeah, something wasn't right last night. A couple people being caught a race is normal. 15 being caught IN ONE CAUTION doesn't happen.

NASCAR needs to admit their mistake here. It definitely hurt a lot of good drivers last night, and I think that with everything that's been going on lately, they have a lot of work to do.
4

BILLFAN50 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 11:41 AM
This is typical NASZAR! Instead of putting out a red flag(they stop other sporting events for technical problems) and checking for problems with the system, they make their usual statement. This is not our fault, our equipment works fine. Come on,27 pit road speeding penalties!
5

xmant2000 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Well everyone knows the almighty NA$CAR never makes any mistakes!

27 pit road speeding penalties in one race and yet nothing was wrong with the equipment or the calibration.......please, give me a break.

NA$CAR as a sanctioning body has far too much power and has no system in place for anyone to question their rules or their rulings.

What a disgrace.
6

spdbmp said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Isn't that why they call the PACE cars?
7

mdhutton said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:20 PM
NASCAR's claim that their pit road speed trap was working properly makes as much sense as the article in the Austrailian newspaper that reported Kennedy's assassination 3 hours BEFORE it happened.

Notice how noting is ever THEIR fault?

Can't wait until Mayfield gets done with them, either. The out-of-court settlement with Maurica Grant will look like pennies on the dollar...
8

manzytrophygirl said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:24 PM
UNBELIEVABLE!!!...27???...NOT!!! Someone at the Kentucky track was living in denial! I am in agreement with what Carl Edwards said...THIS IS B.S.!
9

goober22 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Most motorsports call them safety cars now as they don't "pace" anything really. But I agree, this many is just unheard of. And people continued to get caught. Either the pace speed was off at the start or a loop was miscalculated. Also, remember that they use 2 pace cars for setting pace speed, splitting the field into 2 groups. I wonder of one of them was off. Be interesting to see if most of the penalties came to one of the 2 groups.
10

t-shick said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Plain and simple,Just another example of NASCAR fixing the races. They are all fixed, get used to it. The Japs owns and controls NASCAR
11

goober22 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:36 PM
A quick check with Jayski shows that 13 drivers penalized for speed were in the top 22 startings spots, the other pace car had 8 drivers caught. FWIW
12

t-shick said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Plain and simple,Just another example of NASCAR fixing the races. They are all fixed, get used to it. The Japs owns and controls NASCAR
13

Werner said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Hendrick was also confident with the Earnhardt-Eury combo and a few days later made the change...my point being, i don't like that word..."We’re very..confident..in our pit-road scoring system."
14

vettedude1950 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 6:53 PM
It's nearly impossible to get NASCAR to take the blame for anything. Plenty of drivers to assign it to!
15

andee said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Joe Balash has said some other things that makesyou wander about some of NASCAR officials.
16

BabyBear said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Let's assume that everything was working as it should. One of the drivers was caught going .03 mph faster than allowed. This just furthur proves that NA$CAR is in total control of everything, including the caution flags for paper on the track i.e. debris.
What I find interesting is this attitude is now down to the Nationwide series. The entire orginazation needs to be replaced!
17

stephh33 said:
Jun 14, 2009 at 9:39 PM
Ans I suppose the trap operators' second job is hiding behind the bushes on the Kentucky parkway. Catching the usual culprits is the usual but nailing 27 isn't. Plus you got other tracks that do it (Las Vegas). If whose comes to worse get one of those highway boxes with the big display that says your going to fast (they're accurate to!)
18

dale-jr-is-the-greatest-driver-alive said:
Jun 19, 2009 at 10:00 PM
lol steph great idea and hey maybe the transponder on those cars werent set up right by nascar officials