Trackhouse Racing is reviewing the bungled pit stop which cost Daniel Suarez any chance of winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
While eventual winner Michael McDowell was always going to be tough to run down, Suarez was jumped by Chase Elliott when that top three filed into pit lane together for their final stops.
The issue was that a rattle gun hose got stuck under the left-front tyre when the #99 Chevrolet Camaro was initially dropped off the jacks.
The jack man had to run back around and raise the car again before the pit wall side tyres could be changed, with the drama dragging on for longer than the fuel fill.
“Those hoses are really thick and awkward and just had a little weird loop in it,” explained #99 Crew Chief Travis Mack.
“You know, there’s three guys involved; you’ve got Daniel stopping in the box, the tyre changer who’s holding the hose, and then you’ve got a guy behind the wall throwing the hose.
“So it’s definitely a team thing, a team issue that we’ll work on this week. We’ll just look at the film and see what we could do better next time.”
A win would have booked Suarez’s place in the Playoffs but he finished third and sits 17th in the standings, one position below the cut line, with two races left in the Regular Season.
“He has to win now,” said Trackhouse co-owner Justin Marks.
“I mean, he did everything [at IMS]. He performed at the highest level that I’ve seen him perform.
“We had some problems in the pit stops, but his pace, his commitment, his fire was exactly why we pay him to do what he does, and he was awesome.
“It changes the landscape with the 34 winning, so now we’ve got to go to Watkins Glen, we’ve got to try to win that race, and if we don’t, we’ve got to go to Daytona and try to win that race.
“It’s as simple as that now.”
The 2023 Cup Series continues at Watkins Glen this weekend.
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