Join NASCAR.com's Alex Weaver as she learns from crew chiefs Alan Gustafson, Chris Gabehart and more on how pit stalls are dished out by NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hey, everybody.
00:01Alex Weaver here at Bristol Motor Speedway.
00:02And it's an elimination race under the lights here at the last great Coliseum.
00:03And pit stalls can be a make or break whether or not you win or lose a race.
00:04So we're going to take you behind the scenes for an exclusive look at how our crew chiefs
00:05in the NASCAR Cup Series pick the pit stalls for their teams.
00:06Let's go.
00:07This is going to be interesting.
00:08It's the beginning of an all-important weekend.
00:09This car has a ton of speed.
00:10He's going to the top.
00:11Alex Bowman has it.
00:12He's going to the bottom.
00:13He's going to the top.
00:14He's going to the bottom.
00:15He's going to the bottom.
00:16He's going to the bottom.
00:17He's going to the bottom.
00:18He's going to the bottom.
00:19He's going to the bottom.
00:30He has captured the pole position for the Bass Pro Shops night race.
00:33Eight, Davey Hamlin.
00:34Chase Elliott, his ninth.
00:36Again, Hendrick motorsports knows how to turn up the pressure.
00:40Here with the crew chief of the number nine, Alan Gufsussen.
00:43We just finished qualifying.
00:44We're now walking from the hauler to what exactly?
00:48Yeah, pit pick.
00:49So every week, there's a designated area where after qualifying, we'll all go pit pits based
00:55on how you qualified.
00:56If you're the leader, right, you're going to have a good pit stall regardless.
00:59you're gonna come in clean and hopefully not get blocked in but it's really
01:03important here it's super tight pit road front and back ultimately if you get
01:06blocked in you know that's man two three seconds or you can't get into your pit
01:12box really well and you've got to be angled out all day and then now the
01:15rear tire carrier and changer have to go all the way on the back of the car slows
01:20pit stops down so it's yet I wouldn't say it's like make or break but it's
01:23pretty important. Have you ever had a pit stall session that gets intense is there
01:28ever any arguing or any back and forth with your crew chiefs? I don't I think
01:32everybody stays pretty civil maybe doesn't argue but certainly some dirty
01:36looks and yeah I hurt feelings at times. Alright have fun in there. Alright thanks.
01:42Let's get started here. Lucky number 48 first pick. One please. 48 takes number one number 24. Six. And number 11.
02:0311 takes 21. We're qualified in eighth that's a pretty premium stall and in this case
02:13then he'll be able to see his pit stall very clearly guys will be able to see
02:17him very clearly be able to get stopped exactly once in a box and away we go so
02:21it's good under caution you have to come in turn two and run the entire length of
02:27both pit roads so we'll have to come down the back stretch have plenty of
02:31time that pit road and then go around the corner of three and four where
02:36there's no pit road and then right into our stall. Under green you don't have to
02:40run the opposite that pit road of the one that you're on you only have to run
02:45yours so in our case he would come to pit road off of turn four hot and be in
02:50our lap before we knew it. Number nine.
02:5442 please. We have an opening in which ultimately that will allow us to control
02:59our own destiny right so you can get into the box get stopped and there's
03:02somebody coming around us we can stop back and get out I think the negative is
03:05under green if we have to come down pit road he's gonna be on us like now. 17
03:09takes number seven. 22 takes 17. 12 takes 34 and that puts the 66 in 33. Thanks
03:21everybody. All right that does it. Pit stalls have been chosen by the NASCAR
03:27Cup Series crew chiefs and we're racing under the lights. It's an elimination
03:31race at Bristol. Pit stalls may play an important factor in who wins this race.
03:36Make sure and tune in 730 p.m. Eastern on NBC.