NASCAR will examine its penalty for competitors pitting outside of their respective stalls, but the sanctioning body is unlikely to make a rule change after Christopher Bell's unexpected stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde provided the insight during this week's episode of the "Hauler Talk" podcast. He indicated that the safety concerns factored into competition officials keeping the status quo for this weekend's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"In our view, a tire coming off the car is a very dangerous situation," Forde explained while discussing the serious safety concerns of a 3,500-pound car hitting a heavy tire and launching it over the catchfence.
"...That's something we take very seriously. I think that's where the allowance, the acceptance of what the (Bell's team) did, and really, the applauding of what the 20 team did, comes in because if what they did was avoid that dangerous situation, we're okay with it to a certain point."
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver left his pit stall after a stop in last weekend's Cup Series race, but the team directed him to pull over in another team's stall. He had a loose wheel on the No. 20 Toyota Camry. Bell veered into the No. 19 team's stall, where they tightened the loose wheel.
Bell received a penalty for pitting outside of his stall, so he had to drop to the rear of the field for the next restart. However, he avoided losing a wheel as Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch did. This prevented a two-race suspension for two of his crew members.
Bell's crew chief, Adam Stevens, told Racer after the race that the team is allowed to do this and that it was something the team had discussed before last weekend's race. Forde addressed this on "Hauler Talk" and said that as far as he knew, it had never been policed in NASCAR's history.
That being said, the rule will undergo examination as the season continues. As Forde explains, there is a difference between one team helping another by tightening a loose wheel and doing something that could give them a competitive advantage.
"More so it comes down to the 20 leaves the box, the wheels are all fine, but the gas man didn't pack it full of fuel. Is (Bell) going to be allowed to stop in the 19 pit box and top off?
"That is a little bit different in our opinion," Forde added. "That's the discussion we're having now. Do we need to look a little bit deeper to say, 'OK, this is not really in the spirit of the rule?'
"Safety is one thing, a competitive advantage is another. So that's really the conversation we'll continue to have, but going into Homestead, no changes to the rule. But somewhere in the future, potentially."