Drivers may be the most important part of a race team, but they are not the end-all-be-all. The crew behind a driver plays a huge role in the team’s success as well. In a sport that’s as competitive as NASCAR, crew members need to be at the top of their game at all times. One of the most important duties of a crew is pit stops. A good pit stop can help a driver gain valuable time over their rivals and a bad pit stop can completely ruin a race. For a team like Joe Gibbs Racing, perfection is the norm, and it takes a lot of effort to reach that level, as was revealed by an important member of the organization.

It’s not easy to be a pit crew member for Joe Gibbs Racing

Pit stops are not performed by mechanics or engineers in all cases. Usually, a team will hire professional athletes in peak physical condition to get the job done as quickly as possible. Just changing the tires a few times during a race takes months of training and even then, it’s not easy to get it right on all occasions.

Dabbling on that same subject, recently a documentary was released about Joe Gibbs Racing’s preparation ahead of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. One of the first things shown in the documentary is just how much effort goes into preparing for a pit stop. There is a lot of competition among crew members to earn the right to change a driver’s tires during a race. Speaking about the whole process, JGR president Dave Alpern revealed just how competitive things can be.

“You spend time, efforts, and resources to gain a tenth of a second on the race track, but the human component in the pits literally can gain you seconds. We have former professional athletes, division 1 college athletes. They would tell you that the competition in here is stiff,” he said.

“We have development programs. There are a bunch of young folks out back that are gunning to get their shot on Sunday to be the one changing the tire or jacking the car,” the JGR executive added.

In recent times, young athletes are given priority for changing the tires of a driver during a race. However, while peak physical conditioning is a must, it is not everything. Therefore, it is imperative for a team to have seasoned veterans on the crew as well.

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Team executive stresses the importance of finding the right balance in pit crews

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Finding that perfect balance between youth and experience is far more difficult than it sounds. Speaking about finding that fine balance, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Director of Player Advancement Chris Hall said that the team was blessed to have seasoned veterans in their pit crews who have taken care of themselves well enough to hang with their much younger counterparts.

“Our goal is to find that perfect mesh of seniority, athleticism, knowledge, pit stops, and turn it into a successful ball,” he said. “We have guys who have pitted race cars for years, in the best shape of their lives who are blessed enough to still be able to hang athletically with some of our guys that are fresh out of college,” the official said.

Joe Gibbs Racing did not just become one of the biggest teams in NASCAR overnight. They had to go through a lot of struggles, sacrifices, and excruciating hard work to get to where they are today. Given the culture of discipline of the team, one can be assured that they will turn up and do a fantastic job in the upcoming season.

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