It was a quiet weekend for the Toyota stable at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That is, until Christopher Bell edged out in front in overtime to win the Ambetter Health 400, punching his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Thanks to an all-green stage one and 11 caution flags after, there were no green-flag pit stops all afternoon. This took Atlanta’s unique pit road entry under green out of the equation. But pit road was not entirely quiet, so let’s take a look at its role in Sunday’s (Feb. 23) race in The Peach State.
Cautions Shake Up Strategy
For the first couple rounds of pit stops, all of the teams stuck to the same strategy. All of the lead lap cars took four tires and fuel on lap 64 following a clean stage one. Then, the second caution came out on lap 81, right on the edge of the window to make the end of stage two on fuel. The teams responded accordingly, loading up their tanks full of fuel on lap 86.
The pack split their strategy during stage two, starting with the stops after the fourth caution on lap 137. About half of the lead lap, starting with Chase Elliott from ninth, came to the service of their crews for four tires.
The other half of the pack stayed out for stage points. Out of the cars that got tires on lap 137, only Tyler Reddick broke into the stage two top 10 at sixth.
The final pit cycle on lap 189 got everyone back on the same page, getting enough fuel to make it through regulation and the eventual overtime finish.
Pit Road Police
There were more speeding penalties at Atlanta than any other race track in 2024, but the pit road did not have much to do. Here is a summary of notable pit road penalties from Sunday:
- On lap 64, Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 crew got pegged from removing equipment from the pit box. This penalty was just the start of a rough day for Keselowski, who later got mired in a wreck and finished dead last in 39th.
Keselowski to the rear for removing equipment
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 23, 2025
- During that same first round of stops, JJ Yeley was sent to the tail of the field for speeding. Yeley also crashed out later on and finished 37th.
- On lap 86, Denny Hamlin got caught driving through too many pit boxes on the way to his stall. Hamlin quietly rallied at the end for a sixth-place finish in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Hamlin to the rear for driving through too many boxes on entry to his pit stall.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 23, 2025
Pit Crew of the Race: Spire Motorsports’ No. 71
Adversity struck early for Michael McDowell as he fell off the draft during stage one due to power steering issues.
At the end of that first stage, McDowell went behind the wall, and the No. 71 crew, led by crew chief Travis Peterson, quickly got to work repairing the power steering. They were able to fix the issue and get McDowell back on track six laps down.
From there, McDowell kept the car in one piece and benefitted from the barrage of yellow flags, getting the free pass back to the lead lap early in the final stage. The veteran driver from Phoenix, Ariz., then successfully dodged the late wrecks to find himself in 13th place at the end of the night.
Back. On. The. Lead. Lap.
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) February 23, 2025
WHAT A FIGHT BY THIS TEAM. pic.twitter.com/QUSCwWVxSD
The efforts of McDowell, Peterson, and the entire No. 71 team has earned them this week’s Pit Crew of the Race. McDowell and Peterson experienced prior success together with a win and playoff appearance in 2023, so they will be a intriguing driver and crew chief combo to watch throughout the season.
“With the mechanical issue we had early on and losing seven laps, to get all those laps back and to have a fighting chance at a top 10 at the end, it was a good day for sure,” McDowell told Frontstretch‘s Brad Harrison postrace.
Look Ahead to Next Week
Next Sunday, March 2, the Cup Series will go road course racing for the first time in 2025 with the running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
With road courses, the quandary for crew chiefs is how to strike an even balance between maximizing stage points while also giving their driver a chance to go for the race win as well. COTA will also feature a shorter 2.3-mile track layout this year, which could force teams to tweak their pit strategies from the previous four years.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.