NASCAR

New Technology On Pit Road Will Be Beneficial To NASCAR

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How often have we seen a driver disputing or arguing an accessed pit-road violation? Most of the time those penalties come in the form of speeding on pit road, but there are other offenses that occur in the pit box itself including having too many men over the wall to work on the car or leaving the stall with equipment still attached, etc.

Before now, making those calls was up to NASCAR officials who were assigned to boxes on pit road. In-pit violations were therefore subjected to the flaws of human error, and in a sport where even tenths of a second matter, significant time lost in the pits can be the difference in top 10s, top fives, wins and even championships. Needless to say, being completely accurate in assessing violations is of the utmost importance.

Last week, NASCAR announced changes in its pit-road governing that should make accuracy a forgone conclusion. Gone are officials at each pit stall and instead, cameras will film every second of every pit stop made by each of the 43 teams. A computer system will then determine if any infractions occurred at which point a NASCAR official will look at a monitor to either confirm or dispute the violation. In this new system, both technology and human eyes will be used to leave no doubt of the correct call.

Last but not least, the new system will reduce the number of NASCAR officials on pit road from 24 to 10, all of whom will be behind the pit wall instead of in harm’s way. For a sport that has struggled with questionable calls and safety concerns over the years, this new innovation is likely to help on both counts.

Ryan Pritt is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @RPritt, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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