When Christopher Bell’s No. 20 team left his left front tire loose during a Las Vegas pit stop, they got flashbacks of Joe Gibbs Racing’s first round of pitstops! Bell’s teammate, Chase Briscoe, saw a loose wheel burst out of the car and onto the track, a caution that led to a very severe penalty in NASCAR. Briscoe was held for 2 laps, while his jackman and tire changer were suspended for the next two races. So, when Bell was faced with the situation of risking the tire coming off as he re-entered the pits, he thought differently.

On Lap 108, Bell was leaving his pit box when he heard Adam Stevens frantically yell, “Left front! Left front!” Bell, cool as a cucumber, remembered what he had to do in such a scenario and drove into Chase Briscoe’s pit lane. He got his lug nut tightened but received a penalty, sending him to the back of the grid for using another team’s pit crew. However, Bell and the #20 team’s quick thinking earned widespread respect—even from competitors.

Kyle Larson praises the #20 team

Kyle Larson did not have a great day in Las Vegas. Despite having a dominant history at the track, with two wins in his last three races at Vegas heading into the 2025 race, he ended up with a ninth-place finish. This came despite top-5 finishes in both stages. The reason? Pit strategy. Larson’s decision to pit during the Lap 197 caution cost him the race, but the pit strategy that dominated the headlines was Christopher Bell’s, and despite all the drama surrounding the fairness of the move, the 2021 Cup Series Champion shut out the critics of the move.

Speaking to CupScene.com, Larson said, “I think it’s pretty heads up. I thought it was smart and quick reacting of them to do that. And I don’t see anything wrong with it.” The reason drivers are not up in arms against this move is the fact that Bell was prioritizing safety. A loose wheel on the track, hit by a car going at 190 mph, could rocket into the stands and pose a serious threat, which is why the suspensions are so hefty.

To add to that, Bell was also sent to the back of the grid for the move, which was accepted by most as a fair penalty for Bell’s actions. Kyle Larson also touched on the repercussions, adding, “I don’t really think there needs to be a penalty beyond what that already was,” he noted. “He probably had to restart at the very back of the field anyway. So, yeah, I mean, you kind of penalize yourself.”

However, Kyle Larson also revealed a sentiment that many JGR crew members concurred with. The #5 added, “I don’t know if NASCAR has talked to any teams since then. But I feel like maybe during the single lug stuff when it first started, I think I’d heard about maybe rumblings. Maybe it’s happened before somebody’s done it, or at least we’ve talked about it.” This reflects JGR’s improvisation skills as more of a well-executed reaction to a situation that had been touched on in the past.

While fans and some media painted Bell’s move—stopping at teammate Chase Briscoe’s pit stall to have his loose wheel secured—as a stroke of improvisational brilliance, Larson’s comments suggest it’s been part of team strategy discussions for years. Rather than witnessing a revolutionary moment, viewers actually saw a well-considered contingency plan executed flawlessly under pressure.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s #19 crew chief James Small confirmed this wasn’t a coincidence, telling reporters: “For years, we’ve had an agreement that if somebody rolls up to your pit box, you know what you need to do.” This concurs with Larson’s sentiment of it being a discussed scenario, taking the element of ‘cheating’ out of the equation, as it was a safety maneuver more than anything.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. echoed Larson’s positive sentiment on his Dale Jr. Download podcast, where he praised the strategy, “Should you be allowed to have another pit crew service your car? I don’t think is a big deal. Absolutely smart, quick reaction by Adam Stevens.” Even William Byron acknowledged, “It was pretty heads up for them to anticipate that and obviously they’ve talked about that in the past.”

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports argued that NASCAR should adopt a “wait and see” approach before implementing new regulations. “This is one of those times where NASCAR should wait and see how this plays out,” Pockrass wrote on X, noting that despite teams having planned this option for over a year, Las Vegas marked the first execution of the strategy.

While Bell did not cheat the rulebook to gain an advantage, the controversy does bring back memories of teams who did! So let’s explore some of these intriguing strategies.

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The art of dodging the rulebook

NASCAR’s history is filled with ingenious attempts to sidestep penalties through creative interpretation of the rulebook. When Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing teams were caught with modified hood louvers in 2023, they claimed a “quality control lapse” rather than intentional cheating. The defense didn’t spare them $500,000 in combined fines but did help mitigate some points penalties on appeal. This tactic of claiming unintentional errors has become a common strategy when violations are discovered.

The 2022 Pocono race revealed another subtle approach. The Joe Gibbs Racing cars driven by Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified. This was after NASCAR discovered hidden layers of vinyl under the car wrap—measuring just 0.012 inches thick—applied to the lower fascia. The team blamed “a change in our build process” rather than admitting to deliberate aerodynamic manipulation, showing how teams target virtually invisible modifications to gain minimal but meaningful advantages.

In a different approach to penalty avoidance, Kevin Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing team was disqualified at Talladega in 2023. It was because of loose windshield fasteners—a seemingly minor infraction that actually provides aerodynamic benefits as the windshield can flex at high speeds. These cases demonstrate how teams continue finding increasingly subtle modifications in areas less likely to be scrutinized by NASCAR’s laser-scanning technology, shifting focus to components that might slip through inspection while still providing crucial performance gains.