NASCAR insiders react to Christopher Bell decision to pit in Chase Briscoe pit box: 'Very smart move'

One of the more unprecedented moves in NASCAR came on Sunday at Las Vegas, when Christopher Bell stopped in Chase Briscoe’s pit box. He did so after recognizing he had a loose tire coming out of his own stall.

Bell would be penalized for it and have to move to the back of the pack. But the alternative was a two-lap hold for losing a wheel on the track.

In that sense, Christopher Bell certainly came out on top. Ultimately it wasn’t a huge difference, but it was a savvy play.

If nothing else, Bell saved his crew from a potential suspension for losing a wheel on the track. That’s big.

“Either way, like let’s say he had backed up all the way to his pit stall or whatever,” NASCAR insider for The Athletic Jeff Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “Or his team had run down there. He’s still going to the back. The bottom line is he wasn’t going to leave pit road with a loose wheel. You get the penalty when you leave pit road with the loose wheel. That’s when you get held two laps, that’s when you get the crew members suspended, stuff like that.

“It looked cool, because it was the same kind of thing, but it didn’t like… it wasn’t a big difference in terms of like backing up. Because he would have stayed on the lead lap, it was under caution. It was a very smart move for sure.”

Gluck’s co-host on the podcast also agreed with that assessment on the Christopher Bell move. He pointed out that the pit box maneuver was extremely quick thinking and good reaction time, because drivers don’t exactly study where their teammates’ pit boxes are.

“Very smart move. But if you don’t process that, though, you don’t get that and you hit the end of pit road and you’re on the track, it’s game over,” Bianchi said. “I mean that’s what it is. So I just thought the whole communication process and (crew chief) Adam Stevens to recognize that and have the presence of mind to find a teammate’s pit box, which is 1) I have never heard a crew chief do, and then 2) I have never seen a driver do it.”

Bianchi had a comparison for the Christopher Bell feat. He pointed to film.

“It was like a Days of Thunder moment where Russ Wheeler‘s team is coming out to help Cole Trickle‘s team,” Bianchi said. In any case, it was certainly a unique move.