Kevin Harvick weighs in on Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher pit stall dust-up

The Coca Cola 600 was cut short due to weather over the weekend on Sunday, but not before plenty of drama was allowed to unfold. Some of it included a pit stall showdown between Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin was not happy with how the teams were pitting, with Buescher’s stall just in front of his. Buescher was coming in toward the rear of his pit box, forcing Hamlin to reverse to exit his pit stall at times.

FOX analyst Kevin Harvick broke down exactly what happened.

“The pit stalls are short in Charlotte, so Denny Hamlin was running in front of Chris Buescher,” Harvick said. “And Chris Buescher was running in front of John Hunter Nemechek. And the way that those cars are lined up on pit road, Denny Hamlin comes in first and his tire changers are at his front right tire. Well Chris Buescher has to go around that, so he pulls in at an angle. Denny Hamlin’s in his pit box straight. So John Hunter Nemechek would come around Chris Buescher at even more of an angle because he had to go around his rear tire changer and his front changer, and he would wind up at even more of an angle than Chris Buescher.

“So really the key to the situation, I mean Denny Hamlin backed his stall up a little bit, but they really needed to back him up more, which I think they finally did.”

The challenge, as Harvick explained it, arose from the lack of maneuverability of the cars in close quarters. That made it difficult for both sets of drivers.

After pleading his case with his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, Hamlin finally got an earful.

“They were going at it on the radio, and finally at one point Chris Gabehart told Denny Hamlin, he said, ‘Buddy, if I say anything else we’re going to have a fight. We’re going to be fighting, because I have pushed it that far. So I don’t know what else to tell you,'” Harvick said.

The other factor was simply when the pit stalls were picked. Buescher was the last in the field to pick his stall. Compound that with the difficulty in turning cars in close proximity and it was a recipe for disaster.

“These cars are very difficult to turn in and out of the pit stalls, because they just don’t turn very well like the old cars,” Harvick said. “So it’s hard to get in there, cut it to the left and then cut it back to the right and get straighter. That’s why you see these cars angled in the pit box because when they’re going slow they don’t turn very good.

“So anyway, they were running in the extreme worst order they could possibly run, and Chris Buescher wound up in front of Denny Hamlin. Chris wound up running pretty well. But he wound up in front of Denny Hamlin because he wrecked in practice, blew a tire, blew a left rear tire, took his car back to the shop. Well he was the very last guy to pick a pit stall. And that was the stall left in front of Denny Hamlin. Worst case scenario.”