NASCAR Driver Inexplicably Plows Into Crew Member During Disastrous Pit Stop

During the NASCAR XFinity series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the weekend, driver Jason Allgaier inexplicably plowed into two of his crew members in what can only be described as a disastrous pit stop.

During the first caution, @J_Allgaier was involved in an incident on pit road, when he hit his jackman with his car. #NASCARonNBCSN pic.twitter.com/kAlgzFAfYt

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 22, 2017

From NASCAR.com:

The distance from the penthouse to the outhouse was a matter of inches for Justin Allgaier on Saturday, as an errant pit stop took the JR Motorsports driver from the lead to the garage during the Lilly Diabetes 250.

“I screwed myself there by getting over the line,” Allgaier said after finishing a disappointing 35th in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “These (pit) boxes are super narrow side to side; they’re great front to back and I had no idea that I was going to be in that spot. Tried to fix the first mistake and made a second one that ultimately cost us a good day.”

After leading laps 53-56, Allgaier gave up the top spot to hit pit road under green before the end of the second segment of the 100-lap race.

But when he pulled into his pit stall, located toward the Turn 1 end of pit road, the right front tire of his No. 7 Chevrolet was on the outside line. According to NASCAR, the front tires of a car must be inside the box before work can be done to the car.

Fuel was already being dispensed and the right rear tire had been changed as the front tire changer hurriedly motioned for the driver to back up. After doing so, Allgaier sped out of the box, running over the air hose and dragging the air gun down pit road.

A bigger issue was the right front tire, which was barely on the hub as Allgaier was quickly told to stop. Had the wheel come off, crew chief Jason Burdett, as well as the front tire changer and tire carrier, would have been suspended for four races.

“I was actually going to try to drive around … the rule is the tire can’t come off and I wanted to make sure that it didn’t come off,” Allgaier said. “I think we probably could have made it but on the flip side, if I do and it comes off, then it’s not good for anybody.”

Allgaier’s car was towed to the garage where the team made repairs and sent its driver back out onto the track — 14 laps down.

Following the race, NASCAR officials said in their view the wheel did not come off the car so there will be no penalty.

The incident wasn’t the only pit-road problem for Allgaier. Under caution for the first stage break, Allgaier hit his jack man, Kyle Tudor, as he was coming in to his pit box.

“I was already on the brakes and the guy behind me was still pushing me,” Allgaier said. “Anybody that says pit crew members aren’t incredible athletes, that right there was a testament to these guys. (Tudor) had to sit one pit stop out because we had to wait until the doctor got down here. … Just an unfortunate end to the day.”

In spite of the 35th-place finish, Allgaier is still third in points. He won earlier this season, at Phoenix, but has finished 30th or worse in three of his last four starts.