Crew chief voodoo

September 25, 2001
11:34 AM EDT (1534 GMT)

Pit stop strategy - the crew chief's art of deciding when to call the race driver into the pits and what to do when he gets there - is a factor in every NASCAR race. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, however, that art becomes black art as the teams deal with some unique pit stop rules.

Many pit stop rules are the same in NASCAR's Winston Cup division and the Craftsman Truck Series. In both, seven men are allowed over the wall to service the vehicle. They both are limited to one jack and two air guns. The refueling procedures are the same.

The major differences are that, while Winston Cup teams can change all four tires as often as they like, in the Craftsman Truck Series only two tires can be changed during a yellow-flag pit stop, and teams are allocated a mere four sets of Goodyears to last the entire race weekend.

Those differences, say the men atop the pit boxes, require Craftsman Truck Series crew chiefs to be very smart in planning pit stops. Or very lucky.

"Neither (Winston Cup or Craftsman Truck Series) is easy," says veteran crew chief Fred Wanke. "In our series it's really difficult because of the two-tire rule. You always have two old tires matched with two new ones. That changes the handling characteristics of the truck and the adjustments we do to make changes."

Ray Stonkus, crew chief for Rick Crawford's Milwaukee Electric Tools Ford, concurs.

"In Winston Cup, they can change four tires as fast as they can refuel," explained Stonkus. "They can put on four matched tires and make chassis adjustments by changing the tire pressures.

"Changing only two tires - now there are two hot ones and two cold ones - we can't use tire pressure to make adjustments. In the Craftsman Truck Series we have to rely more on other adjustments, such as changing the wedge or track bar, to manage how the truck handles. It makes those adjustments more critical, more important."

The new generation of racing tires, introduced by Goodyear for all top NASCAR divisions in 2001, has simplified the problem for crew chiefs. Teams report that the tires last longer and change less as they wear - they "lose their grip" less, in racing parlance.

The crew chief has to decide. Does he call the driver to the pits to change tires at every caution, or leave the truck out to maintain track position? At one time, teams wanted new tires at every opportunity, but no more.

"There is not as much speed (to be gained) in new tires," said Wanke, who calls the shots for Ted Musgrave's Mopar Performance Dodge team. "Because the tires are more consistent, we might just take on gas, instead of dealing with two old and two new tires. That way, the only significant variable is how the old tires work with a full load of fuel."

"With better, more consistent tires and the fact that we can only change two at a time, lap times don't vary much over the course of the race," echoed Stonkus. "That makes track position critical."

But because pit stops, tire changes and chassis adjustments are necessary in every race, decisions on strategy must be made. Some crew chiefs claim to start each race with a plan, while others play it by ear.

"We have a game plan, but when the green flag falls, we rarely have the luxury of sticking with it," explained Stonkus. "The situation changes depending on what happens during the race, and where we're running. We make pit stop strategy decisions based on the overall picture, not just the next tire cycle."

Wanke has a slightly different approach.

"When you start each race, your truck has a 'weakest link.' It may be that you get poor fuel mileage, or the truck doesn't run well on new tires, or it handles great on new tires but they give up grip quickly," said Wanke, who as a crew chief has visited Victory Lane with three different Craftsman Truck Series drivers. "You make your pit stop decisions based on fixing the weakest link first, and manage the rest around that."

But Wanke also admits that a little Crew Chief Voodoo comes into play.

"Good pit stop strategy is when the crew chief stands on the pit box and gets lucky," he concluded.

TRUCK SERIES PIT STOP RULES -- A HISTORY

When the Craftsman Truck Series was introduced in 1995, the fledgling touring division visited a variety of small tracks around the country. Many were too small to have pit lanes adequate to accommodate Winston Cup-style pit stops. Indeed, many actually had the garage area not in the infield but outside the track.

Because of that, and NASCAR's desire to keep down the expense of racing in the new series by minimizing the number of required pit crew members, half-time breaks were created. Just after mid way through the race, the caution flag was waved and all trucks took a five-minute time out to go to the garage for service, adjustments and fuel.

Beginning in 1997, as new, larger venues were added to the schedule, the half-time breaks were gradually phased out. The last race with a time out was in 1998.

But other pit stop differences persisted. There were limits on the number of crew members permitted over the wall, the number of air guns and the number of tires.

Today, pit stop rules for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series are closer to those of Winston Cup than ever before. Only the last restriction, the number of tires a team is permitted to use, remains.

TRUCK SERIES -- THE TIRE RULES

To reduce cost of competition in the Craftsman Truck Series, and level the playing field for both well-heeled teams and those with smaller budgets, NASCAR has mandated tire rules that limit the number of tires a team can use during a single race, and limit the number of tires that can be changed during a caution period pit stop.

Each Craftsman Truck team is allocated four sets of tires for the event, including practice, qualifying and the race. The serial numbers on all the tires in a team's at-track inventory are recorded by NASCAR, which monitors the tires used every time the truck rolls onto the track.

Typically, a team will use the first set for pre-race practice. That enables them to set up the chassis to work best on used tires.

Then, in the final minutes of practice, the team will put on a second set of new tires - "stickers," as they are known because they still have Goodyear labels glued to the tread - for one or two hot laps to simulate a qualifying run. That tells the team what to expect when the driver attempts to qualify later in the day. Those tires, now "scuffs," are put aside to be used later in the race.

The third set, also stickers, is used for qualifying. According to NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rules, the truck must start on the same set of tires that it uses to qualify, so set number three is on the truck at the green flag.

During the race, the team can use its remaining tires - the slightly used set number two and set number four - at its discretion, so long as it abides by the second set of tire rules, which is…Only two tires can be changed during any caution. A team that changes more than two is assessed a five-lap penalty for each extra tire.