Rash of equipment failures prompts backlash against new NASCAR rule

NASCAR now requires teams to use standard issued pit guns that it hands out prior to a race, a cost-saving measure that is also designed to shrink the competitive divide between bigger and smaller teams.

But while the pit guns have proven to be cheaper, what they have yet to show is reliability with several teams encountering issues during Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The pit crews of Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. each suffered a pit gun malfunction at some point, with Truex’s crew chief Cole Pearn calling the equipment a “piece of shit,” according to ESPN.com.

NASCAR implemented the spec pit gun over the off-season, curbing teams that were spending upwards of a million dollars to develop faster and lighter pit guns. A lottery system randomly distributes three guns -- front, rear and spare -- to teams on race day morning and NASCAR mandates the air pressures. Teams are limited on making modifications to the guns manufactured by Paoli.

On Sunday, race leader Kevin Harvick had to come back down pit road when his Stewart-Haas Racing crew was unable to properly tighten the lug nuts on the No. 4 Ford. Harvick dropped to 19th in the running order and was back in the lead within 38 laps.

Harvick would go on to win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. And despite the setback, his crew chief did not criticize the pit guns or its manufacturer post-race.

“The people that have took that on really have done an outstanding job,” Rodney Childers said. “Like there’s no way I could sit up here and complain about anything they’ve done because I can’t imagine taking that on over the winter and what they did over a two‑month span or a three‑month span of trying to get all this stuff ready for the teams.

“But my opinion is we’re going to go through ups and downs, and we need to go through them together and learn together. That’s part of it.”

NASCAR worked with the Race Team Alliance, a consortium of team owners, in crafting a rule mandating universal pit guns. One of the RTA’s main objectives is introducing cost-saving measures to help teams stay within budget. The drivers council, featuring an appointed panel of Cup Series drivers, was not consulted about the rule change.

“Nobody asked me when they changed them,” said second-place Brad Keselowski, a member of the drivers council. “It was a decision made by RTA and NASCAR. I don’t think I’m allowed to have an opinion.”

Said fourth-place finisher Denny Hamlin: “Mine worked, so we’re happy. If it didn’t work, we wouldn’t be happy.”

Numerous crew chiefs within the garage have said teams prefer building its own pit guns because the responsibility fell on them to assure that the equipment worked properly. If something broke or failed to function, the onus was then on the teams to find a solution.

Hamlin’s team, Joe Gibbs Racing, was widely acknowledged for having “tricked up” pit guns that it spent a significant sum of money developing. His teammate, seventh-place finisher Busch, was among those who had problem on Sunday.

“I think the reason teams built them on their own is because they were more reliable that way,” Hamlin said. “They could control everything. That’s probably why ‑‑ amongst the competition side of things, they don’t want to fail because it’s a bad luck thing.

”They want it to fail because (the pit crew) did a bad job. It’s your own fault then.”

NASCAR executive vice president of competition and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell acknowledged the pit gun malfunctions during his weekly Monday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. O’Donnell said the sanctioning body anticipated having assorted issues through the early season transition period and will investigate failures at Atlanta.

“We never want to see failures with any part or piece,” O’Donnell said. “We’ll have conversations and get it right. We want it to be in hands of drivers and teams.”