Kyle Busch Reacts as Joe Gibbs Racing Scripts NASCAR History in Richmond With Fastest 4-Tire Pitstop

On Sunday, the NASCAR Cup race at the Richmond Raceway concluded with Denny Hamlin winning. However, his teammate Kyle Busch had a different reason to smile about. As it turned out, the Joe Gibbs Racing team devised a new method of executing pit stops. This was something that they had been practicing for a long time.

READ MORE: Team Owner Joe Gibbs Ready to Take Matter Further With NASCAR After Deferred Black Flag Was Shown to Kyle Busch in Richmond

The previous pit stop record belonged to Alex Bowman in 2021. This was when his #48 Hendrick Motorsports team registered a 13.6 second pit stop at the Texas Motor Speedway. However, the #18 JGR team shattered that with a 9.1 second stop. Suffice to say, Busch was utterly thrilled, even if he was mildly disappointed with 9th place.

Admittedly, it was quite an experience for the pit crew, who had to adjust from their usual roles. One thing is for sure, the Joe Gibbs Racing team is hoping that they have revolutionized NASCAR pit stops. In essence, the rear tire changer will no longer have to go around the back of the car. Now it seems that with this new process, the team has shaved off at least four seconds.

How did the race pan out for Kyle Busch?

Sadly, the #18 driver endured a difficult day in the office. Apparently, he got into trouble because the officials spotted an unauthorized piece of tape sticking to his car. So, he was forced to come in and get it removed immediately. Naturally, this hampered his progress a little bit, but he did his best with a decent recovery job.

It is also worth mentioning that pulling off the pit stunt was a little tough. This was because the sun was beginning to set and it was affecting pit lane visibility. It did not help matters when Kyle Busch almost overshot his pit stall. Despite that, they made the revamped pit stop count and registered the 9.1 second stop on lap 234.

Of course, there is still room for some fine-tuning, but there is time for such improvements. The season is long and that provides them ample time for the rest of the JGR teams to adopt it. Who knows, gradually, other teams will adopt that strategy or find their own methods to suit them.