Late Race Pit Stop Rationale

DIDIT

DIDIT

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Yesterday when the caution came out with about 5 laps to go all but a couple cars on the lead lap pitted. They knew there would only be two laps to race at the most, maybe only a half a lap. What I have a hard time understanding is with 25+ cars on the lead lap, why would all the cars running outside the top ten choose to pit, especially when the lead cars pit?

I am hoping someone can explain this rationale of this follow the leader pitting process that has developed over the years. It almost seems like an unwritten code that the back markers must also pit and stay away from the front on a late race restart.
 
They are all 2nd guessing their decisions now. The speeds didnt fall off that much and it took 1 lap to get the tires warmed up and stuck to the track. Glad kbooosh ddint win so it was a plus.
 
Yeah, I ain't touching this one. That's a crew chief's on-the-spot decision based on how the car and driver are doing that day, what the competitors have been doing and are likely to do, angle of the sun, North-South orientation of pit road, size of the hole in the ozone layer, thickness of Punxatawny Phil's fat layer, and (at Martinsville) number of remaining hot dogs.
 
If the leader stays out most everyone will pit and new tires usually beat old tires even with one lap to go. If the leader pits some cars will stay out to try to improve their finishing position. A caution near the end of a race is a worst case scenario for the leader.
 
Zerkfitting said:
If the leader stays out most everyone will pit and new tires usually beat old tires even with one lap to go. If the leader pits some cars will stay out to try to improve their finishing position. A caution near the end of a race is a worst case scenario for the leader.
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^ A real damn if you do, and damn if you don't for the leader in those cases.
That is why late race cautions are awful, even when justified, imo.
 
I could never crew chief, not in a million years. Especially when it comes to the end of the races, what to do, what to do? I'd flip a coin.
 
Greg said:
^ A real damn if you do, and damn if you don't for the leader in those cases.
That is why late race cautions are awful, even when justified, imo.
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Yes, I understand that philosophy and remember a time when that frequently happened. What I am saying is this is no longer happening. When was the last time you saw the top few cars pit at the end of a race and the remaining 20 or so cars didn't follow? It makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with being a Monday morning quarterback. Any car that was 15th or further back when the caution came out would have easily improved their finish position by staying out. Or, to make it even simpler, if you are the last car on the lead lap you certainly have nothing to lose by staying out. These crew chiefs are a heck of lot smarter than I am, and this is just common sense. The spotters can see all the leaders pitting and the drivers towards the tail end of the lead lap have plenty of time to not commit to pit road. But they don't and they haven't for the last several years.
 
Yesterday was a rare case of a driver being able to hang on to a car on old tires. We've seen many cases where the guy who stays out falls like a rock. Every driver worries 'If I stay out, everyone behind me will pit.' This mentality exists whether you are 1st coming to pit road or 21st.
 
dave corthell said:
Yes, I understand that philosophy and remember a time when that frequently happened. What I am saying is this is no longer happening. When was the last time you saw the top few cars pit at the end of a race and the remaining 20 or so cars didn't follow? It makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with being a Monday morning quarterback. Any car that was 15th or further back when the caution came out would have easily improved their finish position by staying out. Or, to make it even simpler, if you are the last car on the lead lap you certainly have nothing to lose by staying out. These crew chiefs are a heck of lot smarter than I am, and this is just common sense. The spotters can see all the leaders pitting and the drivers towards the tail end of the lead lap have plenty of time to not commit to pit road. But they don't and they haven't for the last several years.
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I said the same thing yesterday about KK's CC Keith Rodden. It was a stupid move going in.
 
dave corthell said:
Yes, I understand that philosophy and remember a time when that frequently happened. What I am saying is this is no longer happening. When was the last time you saw the top few cars pit at the end of a race and the remaining 20 or so cars didn't follow? It makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with being a Monday morning quarterback. Any car that was 15th or further back when the caution came out would have easily improved their finish position by staying out. Or, to make it even simpler, if you are the last car on the lead lap you certainly have nothing to lose by staying out. These crew chiefs are a heck of lot smarter than I am, and this is just common sense. The spotters can see all the leaders pitting and the drivers towards the tail end of the lead lap have plenty of time to not commit to pit road. But they don't and they haven't for the last several years.
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I agree, the only exceptions would be if you knew your tires were so bad that would absolutely get ran over in turn one.

Not trying to beat the Monday thing in the ground, but the calls are probably harder to call than they look. You have to be able to react instantly and clearly based on what the cars in front of you do. It probably has more variables too, like if the leader pits you may want to stay out for position, but what if two others that are already faster and in and front of you stay out, or three? And the anticipated restart lanes, the inside and outside have to be considered too im those cases. A lot considerations to mentally crunch before instantly making the call to pit, or stay inline.

And everybody but the winning CC and company will usually be disappointed with the choices made.
 
I feel it used to happen more, but other then yesterday the only time I can think of in recent years is when Regan Smith won the southern 500
 
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