NASCAR pit gun snaps in half during Martinsville pit stop

Daniel Suarez suffers a major pit gun failure at Martinsville Speedway

Ahead of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season the sanction issued a standardized pit gun. Crews draw a number an hour before the race, then they pick up their coordinating gun pack.

We’ve seen a whole host of issues with these air guns. Some of them are guns failing to switch directions. Other issues are more related to the pressure pumps or the hoses.

Moments ago at Martinsville Speedway we saw a brand new problem arise. the gun completely snapped in half.

The pit gun failure happened to the crew of Daniel Suarez at the conclusion of stage 1. Suarez finished 15th in stage 1. He started the race in 23rd.

NASCAR took over control of the pit guns upon a request from several teams. Gun development became part of business operations. Teams were spending $100,000+ to save hundredths of a second via a pit stop.

Daniel Suarez is a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Ironically, that was one of the teams that had a large gun development budget and essentially caused this whole deal.

Paoli is the manufacture of the new guns. They have developed pit guns for every level of motorsports. Most notably, their pit guns are used in F1.

The race at Martinsville Speedway is currently underway.

More

Related: NASCAR discusses gun failures and the new OSS system (February 2018)

Related: Stewart-Haas Racing comments on gun failures (February 2017)

Related: Martin Truex Jr’s crew chief discusses pit gun failures

Related: NASCAR pit guns could be standardized (October 2017)

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Paoli | Martinsville | NASCAR

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