Bearden Breakdown: Two Problems in Texas

By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

(Pit) Gun Control

While the debate on gun control wages on in the political spectrum, NASCAR is enduring a much less important debate, with teams, fans, drivers and media waging a war of words over the implementation of spec pit guns utilized by all teams since the start of the year.

The guns, supplied by Paoli, were issued to teams and required for use this season as an attempted cost-cutting measure for the sport. In theory the move kept NASCAR’s top teams from investing millions of dollars in proprietary pit gun technology, allowing the smaller organizations to remain competitive on pit road and the larger teams to allocate those funds elsewhere.

NASCAR made the move to regulate the pit guns at the request of various teams. But in the time since their implementation the overall feedback has trended negative.

Those that had an advantage beforehand had fair cause to complain, having essentially been stripped of the technology they’d already invested resources to. But those complaints haven’t been the loudest heard thus far. Instead they’ve stemmed from gun failures.

It’s difficult to tell how the trend compares to previous years because teams didn’t make the same habit of complaining about their own technology – at least not externally – but the apparent faultiness of the Paoli-produced products has been a consistent theme through the season’s opening seven races.

From winners Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch to young stars like Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman, a host of the sport’s top names have seen one or more runs set back by malfunctioning pit guns, leading both drivers and car owners to voice their concern over the product’s consistency.

The latest to spew vitriol over the guns was Harvick, who saw a potential win in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway slip away at the hands of numerous pit road issues.

“That was unfortunate. We had a pathetic day on pit road, two days on pit road because of pit guns,” he said. “When you have a pit gun problem like we have multiple times and been able to overcome it and then today we couldn’t overcome it. Time after time you can’t get the lug nuts tight because the pit guns don’t work.”

The failures and comments have been unfortunate, because they’ve taken storylines away from a season that’s felt reminiscent of earlier days. (We’ll get to that in a minute.)

Paoli has come under fire – an disappointing situation when you consider that fewer than 30 pit stops have incurred documented issues in seven Cup races with roughly 200 stops per event. But NASCAR and the manufacturer have to expect the backlash.

Racing is a sport that emphasizes controlling variables. Teams spend hours on the dyno to dial in cars. Drivers test every track in simulators before they ever see the racing surface in real life. Pit crews practice pit stops thousands of times to perfect their form.

Spec pit guns were expected to eliminate a variable, not add one.

Until they’re able to do that, teams will continue to raise their voices. And if the issues can’t be sorted out before the playoffs draw near, NASCAR should consider meeting with the teams and discussing the possibility of allowing them to reintroduce their own pit guns for the remainder of the season.

Growing pains were expected with how quickly the pit guns were introduced. But whether the current guns are improved, a new manufacturer is chosen or the spec guns are dropped altogether, something needs to be done before the playoffs arrive this September. NASCAR can’t afford to have a potential championship season undone by a spec part outside of teams’ control, particularly in the Championship 4.

That’s on Us

Add NASCAR to the list of sports to have officials admit to missing a crucial call late in an event.

Remember those pit woes we discussed with Kevin Harvick earlier? They came into play in the final stages of Sunday’s race. Harvick was on pit road for his final pit stop when his crew appeared to allow a tire to slip out of arm’s reach in the middle of pit road – a mistake that typically yields an uncontrolled tire penalty.

Anticipation built for Harvick’s return to pit road to serve his penalty in the ensuing laps, throwing away a second-place run and what little battle there was for the race lead.

But Harvick never came. No penalty was issued.

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller admitted afterward that the sanctioning body had made a mistake.

“It was a judgement call, and after conducting a post-race review of the incident an uncontrolled tire penalty for the 4 car would have been correct,” Miller said. “We missed that call.”

The missed call helped make the race’s ending more exciting than it would have otherwise been, with Harvick stalking eventual winner Kyle Busch through lapped traffic in the closing laps. But it sat poorly with fans for a few different reasons.

Chief among the issues raised was consistency. Ryan Blaney had been issued an uncontrolled tire penalty for a similar-looking incident to Harvick’s earlier in the day at Texas, and he was far from the first to see the black flag for the mistake this year.

The 2014 Cup champion getting away with what appeared to be an identical issue just hours after Blaney was flagged made race control appear inconsistent and unfair – a complaint that’s been raised with them from the garage in the past for other issues such as cautions and decisions made during inclement weather.

There was also the issue of the official.

As shown on FOX Sports’ broadcast, a NASCAR official was seen fist-bumping a member of Harvick’s crew around the time they were informed of the no-call decision. While this wasn’t likely a factor in the decision to keep Harvick from being penalized, it posed a significant perception problem for the sport that even NASCAR President Brent Dewar acknowledged after the event.

Agree!

— brent dewar (@brentdewar) April 9, 2018

The mistaken call was understandable. As long as the human element plays a factor in the decision-making process – and it always should to an extent, lest sports lose the human feeling that make them great to begin with – there will be the occasional poor call or disagreement to debate. Officials in the NBA, MLB, NFL and elsewhere have endured blown calls that required apologies afterward in recent years.

Still, Harvick’s lucky break proved that the sanctioning body still has an opportunity to improve – both in their consistency and delivery of penalty calls. Good on Miller and Dewar for acknowledging it.

Quick Shots

Remember when I said we’d get back to a story that felt reminiscent of earlier days?

Here it is.

There have been 15 or fewer cars on the lead lap at the end of every Cup race this year.

The Daytona 500 started the year off with 10 lead-lap finishers, a mark matched in races at both Texas and Auto Club Speedway. ISM Raceway set the high mark with 15 drivers completing every lap, while Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw just nine drivers run each circuit.

Races this season have played out like a war of attrition. Races have seen crashes, tire blowouts, engine failures and a smorgasbord of green-flag racing. There have been 17 fewer cautions through the opening seven races of the season than last year, with all but two of the events seeing fewer yellow flags and none seeing more.

The resulting green-flag runs and dominance of drivers like Harvick and Busch have led to a mere 71 cars to reach the checkered flag after completing every lap, a mark that hits just 57.26% of the 124 lead-lap finishers seen through to this point last year.

The unexpected attrition and green-flag racing has made lead-lap finishes feel special again.

No longer do lead-lap finishes feel like a given. Each driver that manages such a result can truly say they’ve accomplished something great – reaching a mark that more than half of the field will fail to match.

William Byron earning his first top 10 at Texas last weekend mattered, but more impressive was the fact that he was one of only 10 drivers to finish on the lead lap.

The rookie had something to be proud of and celebrate, because lead-lap finishes aren’t a guarantee anymore. Teams have to earn them every weekend.

If the postseason were to start today, there would be a radically different field competing for the Monster Energy Cup than we saw one year ago.

It’s too early to invest too much in this thought, but there would be six drivers in the postseason that failed to crack the playoff grid last year if the regular season were to draw to a close today.

The most obvious addition to the group is Clint Bowyer, who has already secured his spot with a win at Martinsville Speedway. But a glance through the top 16 in points also shows Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Paul Menard holding down postseason positions as things currently stand.

Few of the new additions look safe. Only Bowyer and Logano sit inside of the top 10, and veterans like Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray are all lurking outside of the top 16 with future rises all-but assured.

Still, the new entries have served as a refreshing shakeup early on for a playoff grid that’s seen a lot of familiar faces in recent years. If a few of them can hold on through the summer, they might just add an extra layer of intrigue to the postseason this fall.