Denny Hamlin debates why cars are losing wheels more in NASCAR

There have been a slew of penalties in NASCAR this season for losing wheels. Shane Van Gisbergen was the latest to see his crew penalized for losing one during the weekend at Martinsville.

A handful of insiders in the sport have posited that the extremely quick change times on pit stops are to blame. It has led to more errors.

But if you’re not trimming off every millisecond, you’re probably not competing. So where is the line?

“I heard this brought up, I forget who it was, maybe it was Jeff Burton post-race. But they said it’s probably why we’re seeing loose wheels, as well,” Denny Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “If you see, a lot of times we’ll drop jacks and they’re not even checking to see if it’s (right). They’re just going off sound and rhythm of the lug should be tight at this point and they drop it because we’re all fighting for that time.

“Because when we had six men the jackmen could just concentrate on looking down, looking to see the changers are done and dropping it. Now he’s hanging tires. His head’s turned sometimes when they’re dropping the jack.”

The increased responsibilities on the jackmen have made it tougher to maintain the proper working condition on the car. At least, when you’re trying to go at a very high rate of speed.

Hamlin himself is coming off a NASCAR Cup Series win. His car was far and away one of the fastest on the track on Sunday at Martinsville, but his pit stops were also on point. Even he, though, knows you’re always one bad turn from a loose wheel.

“I’ve had times where it’s not felt that way, and I’ve had a lot of rough gos at it on pit road,” Hamlin said. “But this group has meshed together.”

Hamlin doesn’t believe NASCAR can trim much more time off pit stops. And with that being the case, getting it right is key.

“The jackman has such a big role in it,” he said. “I agree that we’re nearly tapped out on changer time because of the equipment, and really that transition and that jackman.

“I get to see it every pit stop. I can see the jackman and his motions and all that stuff and it’s just like, ‘Holy crap, that is athletic.’ I mean it’s just these guys are specimen and they continue to refine their footwork, where their body position is, how they hang tires.”

Will things revert back a little bit and pit times creep up ever so slightly as the tire issues continue in NASCAR? We’ll have to wait and find out.