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#19: Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing, Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic Toyota Camry
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Monday Morning Pit Box: Big Names Go Bust on Pit Road at Las Vegas

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A new name has been added to the list of NASCAR Cup Series winners. Josh Berry, the short track racer from Hendersonville, Tenn., piloted the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to his first career Cup win in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 16.

Behind Berry, there were loose wheels and penalties aplenty, many of them impacting big name drivers and teams. Let’s try to sort out the myriad of pit road maladies in Sin City with a driver-by-driver breakdown of the most notable issues.

Kyle Busch

With three top 10s to start 2025, it looked as though Kyle Busch’s luck was finally starting to turn. However, a trip to his hometown track turned out to be a rewind to 2024.

Busch’s troubles began early with the first round of pit stops on lap 36. It looked as if Rowdy might restart with the lead, but he then got caught speeding on pit entry, relegating him to the back of the pack.

The day for Busch went from bad to worse when on lap 113, he lost his right rear wheel on the backstretch during the restart. That sent Busch back to the garage for significant repairs, followed by a two-lap penalty. It also means an impending two-race suspension for the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team’s rear tire changer Shiloh Windsor and jackman Dylan Moser later this week.

Finally, just prior to the final caution with 23 laps remaining, Busch scraped the backstretch wall again. Busch settled for a 33rd-place finish in his No. 8 RCR Chevrolet.

Pit penalties and mistakes by both driver and crew have been an issue for the No. 8 team for over a year now. It will need to be addressed if Busch is to make a return to the Cup Series playoffs in 2025.

Chase Briscoe

Outside of a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500, Chase Briscoe’s first season at Joe Gibbs Racing has gotten off to some tough sledding. Sunday’s race at Las Vegas did not help matters.

Like Busch, Briscoe lost a loose wheel, bringing out the race’s first caution on lap 34 when his left rear wheel came off on the apron of turns one and two. As a result, NASCAR officials held Briscoe’s No. 19 JGR Toyota on pit road for two laps, and the team will likely be without the services of rear tire changer Daniel Smith and jackman Caleb Dirks for the next two races.

Unlike the former JGR driver Busch, Briscoe and the No. 19 team were able to run a clean race the rest of the way. They even helped out a teammate along the way, but we’ll have more on that in a bit.

Briscoe took advantage of late-race cautions to get back on the lead lap and rebound to a decent finish in 17th.

Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell arrived in Las Vegas with an opportunity to make history. The driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota sought to become the first driver to win four straight Cup Series races since Jimmie Johnson back in 2007.

Bell’s drive for the record books went off the rails on lap 108. Bell left his pit stall with a loose left front wheel, threatening to suffer a similar fate as his teammate Briscoe.

That is when something happened that has likely never happened in NASCAR history. No. 20 crew chief Adam Stevens quickly identified the loose wheel and instructed Bell to stop in the Briscoe’s stall to get his left front wheel tightened.

While Bell still got hit with a ”pitting outside the box” penalty and sent to the rear for the ensuing restart, thanks to a heads-up decision by Stevens, the No. 20 team avoided a much stiffer punishment. Also, despite snapping his winning streak, Bell managed to salvage a decent points day, taking the checkered flag in 12th.

Alex Bowman

On lap 90, Alex Bowman was forced to bring his No. 48 Chevrolet down pit road for an unscheduled green flag pit stop to tighten a loose wheel. If that wasn’t enough, Bowman got tagged for speeding on lap 113. Then, on lap 187, Bowman wound up pitting backwards in his stall.

Despite both setbacks, Bowman rebounded late for a seventh-place finish.

Miscellaneous Penalties

  • Chase Elliott sped on the way to his pit stall during yellow-flag pit stops on lap 84. Elliott stayed out of trouble the rest of the way and was able to squeak out a top-10 finish, bringing his car home 10th.
  • Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs capped off the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for JGR with a speeding penalty for each of them. Gibbs also made contact on pit road with Carson Hocevar, forcing him to pit backwards in his stall. Gibbs, who never seriously contended, came home in 22nd, while Hamlin was not far behind him in 25th.
  • Michael McDowell sat on the pole and led the opening lap Sunday, but the good news ended there for the driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. McDowell sped on pit road during the lap 113 caution and never found the front of the field again, finishing 16th.
  • Ty Dillon got penalized for removing equipment from the pit box on lap 167. He drove the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to a 21st-place finish.
  • Berry and Austin Cindric both had to make second pit stops at one point to tighten loose wheels. Neither of these were officially penalties, and both drivers wound up with great finishes. As aforementioned, Berry won the race, and Cindric took the checkered flag in the sixth position.

Pit Crew of the Race: Nos. 1 & 99 Trackhouse Racing Teams

For the first time this season, we have co-winners for pit crew of the race. Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez made the most of pit strategy and strong, mistake-free days from their pit crews to pilot the Nos. 1 and 99 Chevrolets to top-five finishes.

Suarez came off of pit road with the lead after taking two tires on lap 167 while everyone else behind him took four. Under the final round of pit stops with 23 laps left, Suarez again left pit road first with four tires, ultimately ending the day in the runner-up spot behind Berry.

“We did everything right,” Suarez told FOX post-race. “The team did an amazing job on the strategy and pit stops. We did everything right, and the car was fast. I’m just proud of everyone at Trackhouse.”

Meanwhile, Chastain made his own two-tire stop on lap 147. 18 laps later, Chastain held off most of the field behind him to finish stage two in third, earning eight stage points. Chastain maintained track position the rest of the day, crossing the finish line in fifth.

While other teams melted down on pit road around them, Trackhouse Racing rose to the occasion, a huge testament to crew chiefs Phil Surgen (No. 1) and Matt Swiderski (No. 99). Sunday’s pair of top fives is a significant shot in the arm for a Trackhouse group that got their 2025 season off to a sluggish start.

Look Ahead to Next Week

The NASCAR Cup Series will go intermediate racing again next week, but this time it will be on the east coast with the running of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, March 23. Green flag is scheduled for shortly after 3 p.m., and Fox Sports 1 will carry the race broadcast.

Homestead produced one of many great finishes in 2024 as Tyler Reddick getting around the outside of Ryan Blaney in the final corner. With Homestead moved to the spring, we will see if a change of season produces similar drama.

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.