Pit Crew Report: Iowa
Fastest pit crew includes Super Bowl 50 champion; why pit stall selection matters so much at Richmond Raceway this weekend
We predicted that pit-stall selection would be significant in our Iowa preview last week and that ended up being a story line for multiple teams, whether it was for optimal performance … or for some of the mistakes and issues we saw for multiple cars.
Connor Zilisch has experienced a tough rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series that has involved some early crashes in races and resulted in his pit crew not seeing action, but things turned around at Iowa as Zilisch ran up front for most of the race. His pit crew stepped up to the challenge as well and left the track with the fastest pit stop average of the day.
That No. 88 Trackhouse Racing pit crew of Connor Zilisch is comprised of some veteran pit crew athletes, starting with front-tire changer Josh Bush, who won Super Bowl 50 as a member of the Denver Broncos before becoming a NASCAR pit crew athlete. He also spent time with the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills before joining Richard Childress Racing in 2021 and eventually moving to Trackhouse.
Rear-tire changer Seth Gajdorus took an entirely different path. His first exposure to race cars came when he worked on a dirt late model as a teenager. Eventually he moved to North Carolina and attended NASCAR Technical Institute, which led him to a position of bodywork installer and tire changer at what is now RFK Racing. He made his way to Trackhouse in 2023 and pitted for Daniel Suárez before being assigned to Zilisch this year.
Jackman Aslan Pugh studied mechanical engineering and played as a linebacker at Rutgers University, where he made it to the Academic All-Big Ten list multiple times. He enjoys coding and computational analysis and was part of the Shane van Gisbergen No. 97 pit crew last year.
Tire carrier Jeremy Kimbrough played as a linebacker for Appalachian State University and was signed by the Washington Commanders in 2013. Eventually he ended up on the injured reserve list, but later made it to a NASCAR Drive for Diversity pit-crew development program. He has worked with drivers like Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez before ending up on the No. 88 pit crew of Zilisch.
Fueler Milan Rudanovic is another Rutgers alum like Pugh, where he played as a defensive end while working multiple jobs ranging from home inspector to waiter. Working on a Red Bull car is a bit of reunion for Rudanovic, who got his start in NASCAR in 2008 working on the Red Bull Racing team. He eventually made it to Chip Ganassi Racing, which led to his current spot at Trackhouse.
We predicted that William Byron and his No. 24 pit crew would be ones to watch at Iowa Speedway and the team continued its stable climb in performance with a ninth-place finish in the race along with the single fastest pit stop.
That 8.04-second four tire stop from the No. 24 pit crew is the fastest stop ever recorded by a Hendrick pit crew and was just hundredths of a second away from the series record. Their performance over the last few weeks has been impressive and has led to a climb into the top five of the pit crew rankings, which should provide William Byron some confidence heading into The Chase.
Pit lane wasn’t rosy for everyone as we saw mistakes happen for multiple pit crews like the No. 54 pit crew of Ty Gibbs, the No. 9 pit crew of Chase Elliott and the No. 22 pit crew of Joey Logano. We dug into the details of how and why these mistakes happened on NASCAR Inside The Race this week with Steve Letarte and Todd Gordon, and you can watch that analysis here on the Motorsport.com channel.
What to expect
Richmond will be heavy on pit stops with most strategies likely resulting in five to seven four-tire pit stops, so it will be a busy night for pit crews. Tight conditions mean that pit stall selection will be important. Qualifying well in order to grab a good pit stall will be extremely significant. The first pit stall is likely to go first as it has the best chance of a quick exit, but the most successful pit stall in the Next Gen era is actually pit stall 16 with an average finish of 8.57.
Most top pit stalls have either an opening in or out, which allows for a quicker entry or exit during a pit stop. Pit stall 16 is located just past the start/finish line and has an opening out. Pit stall 19 isn’t far from it and has an opening in. Pit stall 35 is close to pit in and has an opening in allowing for quick entry. Pit stall 38 doesn’t have any openings, but pit stalls 37 and 39 are often chosen late and typically by cars that are more likely to go a lap down early in the race which can create openings later on.
It will be one of the most challenging races for pit crews as they won’t be waiting on fuel, so tires will matter and things are likely to be close as the top-10 pit crews all averaged within around a half a second of each other last year.