Pit crew chaos: NASCAR Playoffs start with a gem

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Playoff time brings heightened awareness, added aggression, and the risk of cracking under pressure.

It’s not just the drivers who feel it. The pit crews are right in the fire with them and proved how much so on Sunday night.

The pit crew chaos started early in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington. On the very first green flag pit sequence, Brad Keselowski drove halfway down pit road and into Joey Logano’s box after a loose left front had been reported. In the confusion, the No. 22 crew tightened the wheel on Keselowski’s car before pulling away.

That saved Brad and his crew from a larger penalty but set the tone for the evening.

From there, the pressure only escalated. Alex Bowman, already buried in traffic after a poor qualifying session, needed his highly ranked pit crew to be flawless.

They nailed their first stop of the night, but their second attempt unraveled.

On lap 68, a loose air hose slowed service on the right rear resulting in a disastrous 40 second pitstop. Bowman fell 2 laps down, digging the hole they found themselves in deeper.

The playoff jitters spread like wildfire across pit road. On lap 78, Bubba Wallace nearly collided with the merging Zane Smith exiting his box. He narrowly avoided him, but other playoff drivers wouldn’t be as lucky.

The Playoff Jitters

After a Carson Hocevar’s solo spin in Stage 2, pit road came alive again. Christopher Bell’s crew, one of the best in the series, delivered a clean stop up until exiting.

Hocevar trailed in for his stop. The emerging Bell clipped him hard in the left rear, sending Carson into a 180, while tearing a chunk out of his own splitter. The damage proved large enough to stall the rest of the night for Bell.

The mistakes kept piling up. Ryan Blaney was forced to sit through the Hocevar-Bell incident to avoid the chaos, while Denny Hamlin and William Byron’s crews also had faults. Under the opening pressure of the playoffs, no team was safe.

That theme echoed throughout the remaining laps. More playoff drivers and crews had their woes. Slow stops for Chase Elliott and Blaney, along with contact between Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain capped off a turbulent night on pit road.

In the end, flawless execution on pit road separated the playoff contenders of the night from the rest.

Drivers and their crews now look towards the next race in the round of 16 at Gateway.

Cup Series Pit Crew Rankings: Through the Regular Season

1. Kyle Larson
2. Bubba Wallace
3. Daniel Suarez
4. Chase Elliott
5. Ty Gibbs
6. Alex Bowman
7. William Byron
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Christopher Bell
10. Chris Buescher
11. Cole Custer
12. Ryan Blaney
13. Ross Chastain
14. Austin Cindric
15. Tyler Reddick
16. Joey Logano
17. Ryan Preece
18. Noah Gragson
19. Kyle Busch
20. Chase Briscoe
21. Erik Jones
22. Josh Berry
23. AJ Allmendinger
24. Carson Hocevar
25. Shane van Gisbergen
26. Austin Dillon
27. Justin Haley
28. Riley Herbst
29. Brad Keselowski
30. John Hunter Nemechek
31. Michael McDowell
32. Zane Smith
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
34. Ty Dillon
35. Cody Ware
36. Todd Gilliland

*Bold denotes current playoff driver