Adam Stevens explains wild Christopher Bell pit road decision

During today’s race at Las Vegas, Adam Stevens made his driver Christopher Bell stop in Chase Briscoe’s pit stall to tighten a wheel. It was a move that saved the day and avoided a two-lap penalty, and two-week suspension for a couple of crew members. NASCAR did not see Bell fourpeat, either.

Christopher Bell fought back from multiple issues on Sunday. Problems on pit road plagued everyone today it felt like. The 20 team didn’t get the left front on the car on tight enough.

Instead of risking a loose wheel penalty, Bell was told to pit somewhere else. So, he found a Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s stall and parked it. The 19 team of Briscoe, who earlier had a loose wheel, tightened the left front on the 20 car.

While Bell fell short of his goal, he salvaged a top-15 finish. After the race, Adam Stevens admitted he didn’t just make up the pit road decision on the spot. The team had that up its sleeve as a backup plan.

“Oh,” Stevens said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER.com. “That’s something we’ve talked about.”

Stevens had a contingency plan for everything today, it seems. It was just too bad he got hit by everything today, too. The setbacks proved to be too much ultimately and the team had to settle for an okay finish.

Christopher Bell makes wild pit stop at Las Vegas

A massive heads-up play by Christopher Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens and maybe one that makes NASCAR rewrite the rules on pit road. Bell had a loose left front wheel and had the No. 19 team tighten it.

In a bit of an ironic turn, Chase Briscoe’s team went from getting a loose wheel penalty to saving Christopher Bell from one. But is that going to sit well with NASCAR after this Las Vegas race?

Loose wheels have been a huge issue on the track today. Bell avoided one with a heads-up play. He had to go down pit road, but it was under caution. Much better than being held for two laps on pit road.

NASCAR hit him with a penalty for pitting out of the box. Do you think drivers should be able to pit in another team’s box and use their pit crew?

Considering Christopher Bell avoided a two-lap penalty and losing his jackman and wheelchanger for two weeks, I’d say it is more than worth it. There is plenty of race left to go from the back to the front…again.