NASCAR planning to mandate standard pit gun beginning in 2018

Over the last few years, race teams have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into developing pit guns that help gain valuable time for tire changers.

But that will change next year. Two people with knowledge of the situation told JeffGluck.com on Monday that NASCAR is planning to move to a standard pit gun — manufactured by Paoli — starting in 2018.

That means teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, which was known for its pit gun development, will lose a potential advantage next season.

When asked about the pit gun change, NASCAR issued the following statement:  “NASCAR is working on a number of initiatives to enhance both the performance and safety of our sport. One of the many competition initiatives considered is the future of pit equipment. We will provide an update on some of the initiatives at the end of the 2017 season. In the meantime, our focus remains on the exciting championship battles that are playing out across all three national series.”

NASCAR has looked for ways to remove costs from race teams, and standardizing the pit guns could potentially create more parity at the same time.

There’s also a possibility NASCAR could monitor lug nuts through the guns, because some teams have already figured out a way to get the pit guns to tell them if the tire changer properly secured a lug nut or not.

It’s unclear how NASCAR could roll out the change, but the sanctioning body could potentially pass out the pit guns at the track each week in order to prevent them from being altered.

This will be a major change for the sport’s tire changers, who can currently customize pit guns to fit their hand speed.

54 Replies to “NASCAR planning to mandate standard pit gun beginning in 2018”

    1. I agree. What kind of argument is it going to cause if someone gets one from nascar that malfunctions? If its their own there isn’t anything they can say except to blame themselves

      1. Wow so true that would be a nightmare if a team got a bad/malfunctioning one. Or they could claim it was

      2. Save costs? Nah. Small teams rent crews but now that will go up due to guns and all the current equipment everyone has is now 2k man cave decor how will they service 160 guns per week $$$ and allow practice 40 teams x 3 guns (2 primary+ backup) x 39 races x (500)per
        week not counting off-season practice. 2.3 million total is a hell of a savings if you ask me! #getpaid #stupidbusiness

      3. The teams are asking Nascar to help them cut costs. Sponsors don’t grow on trees anymore, and the ones that are around don’t pay as much as they used to. Hundreds of thousands of dollars on a pit gun is stupid. If coach Joe wants to spend that kind of money on a put gun, he needs time go F1 racing.

    2. There’s plenty of “stuff” left up to the teams. This would be a GREAT move towards financial and competitive parity. The bigger teams will always have some advantages, but spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on tire guns is insanely ridiculous. The tires themselves are handled exactly this way by NASCAR and Goodyear, why not the guns that attach those tires to the cars? The sports in 100 times safer for having a single tire manufacturer with identical tires distributed to teams each week. (Anyone else remember all the blown Hoosier tires in the mid-90s when they sacrificed quality control for speed?)

    3. You damn right Leave people alone nascar is losing fan’s because of there stupied shit and dumb ass brian france and going to lose more I myself watch my NHRA there at least you see real racing wake up nascar wake up

    4. NASCAR can’t figure out why the attendance down every time you turn around the changes something did she leave it alone

    5. Yeah but making it an even playing field keep step teams with unlimited dollars from gaining at unfair advantage. Standard guns for everyone would make it a more level playing field

    6. What’s next? You exit the pits in the same order as you entered? Just give every crew two minutes in the pits and everyone is happy…and NASCAR wonders why their loosing fans. This is how NASCAR thanks Ingersoll Rand for their fifty plus years in NASCAR.

  1. Why not go with a single nut hub, like F1, etc. I mean it’s not like these cars are stock

    1. The cost to change to a single nut hub is millions of dollars. Part of the “show” is the 5 on 5 off.

      1. With all the money sunk into faster air gun development, we could have already had single nut hubs.

      2. Not really since the technology already exists in IMSA. Single nut hubs with steel rotars could be easily integrated on the chasis. But a standard lug gun is stupid.

    2. so are teams going to have to have their pit guns go though inspection now as well? if the gun spins to may RPM’s will the team be penalized and have to sit on pit road and miss practice time. This shit has to end. leave stuff to the teams if a team figures out a way to gain an advantage then so be it! it’s not illegal till next year. leave some stuff to the teams to gain and advantage they have already ruined the bodies of the cars!

    3. More BIG BROTHER. Growds and tv are down for a reason. The France Family Circus.

      Dirts for racin, asphalts for getting there.

      Good riddance.

      1. I agree 100%. Next they will be mandating what type of underwear drivers have to wear. Not sure how Danica will like those boxers.

  2. The real story is this…..NA$CAR found a company willing to be the exclusive supplier. As with any exclusive supplier relationships, with the absence of competition, there are no price controls. That is how a set of tires can cost $2500. This is not a cost saving move…..but rather a $$ making one for NA$CAR.

    Why won’t anyone report that the long despised splitter is manufactured by a Mike Helton owned company? How is having one exclusive supplier, with a conflict of interest nonetheless, beneficial to the teams?

    1. That was my first thought as well. Somebody prolly signed a plump little contract for this….(just like our military suppliers). Now if they are going to supply the teams FOR FREE, then I withdraw my objection.

  3. So instead of fixing issues such as the restrictor plate races, they think changing tools will improve the sport. Maybe just maybe we can award stage points for each lap.

    Get back to racing, all or none, or you will end up losing more fans, NASCAR to real racing series that know the green falls and it’s race until the checkered.

  4. I don’t see this as a bad thing. Do we really want races decided by who has the best pit guns? On the other hand, if this is a ploy to save race teams money then it is kind of ridiculous after seeing the millions of dollars that went up in smoke yesterday as a result of restrictor plate racing. Kind of like trying to save a few cents while lighting a stack of bills on fire. Oh well, NASCAR has to play their little games to make it look like they are trying to lower costs. Kind of reminds me of the old parable in the Bible about the speck and the log.

  5. Simple fix:Give them each a old fashioned tire iron.Pits will be slower,but no malfunctions to blame things on.The pit guys arms will end up like Popeyes,lol!

  6. Well hell, why not just have 40 team cars and draw for cars before the race. I mean good gosh…..it’s called racing. They have stipulations on nearly everything now. This sport is not going anywhere but down. Go back to the basics……skinny tires and no spoiler……

  7. First of all I would rather them cut cost on stuff like that vs doing it to the race car. Second if he picked on fillet it would be absolutely 100% no different than the way it is now. Teams can only have two guns ago over the wall if one fails you can’t get another one. So if one fails it would happen the same way as it does now. My guess is teams would have three guns per car

  8. And on the other side.. NASCAR made an announcement that Paoli is the official lug nut gun and thanks for the huge donation to the Frantz family

  9. Another great idea by NASCAR to cut needless R&D which costs big bucks. Not one fan would even know it was happening if this was done quietly. But of course we still have fans out there who like to whine like the old plate track engines used to do a few years ago.

  10. I guess most of the ones complaining loved watching when the winner lapped the field and 3rd was 2-3 laps behind 2nd and only 20 out of 43 cars were still running. Might as well watch football with teams winning 54 to nothing. It’s great when their team has 54, but the other team and officials are cheating when their team is the loser.

  11. NASCAR can’t understand why viewership is slipping, too many rules, they have made everyone equal, might as well call it the IROC series. Oh wait, that failed too.

  12. I didn’t know that certain people already were being exclusive suppliers. That is just said. I realize Goodyear has been but when the sanctioning body has people supplying the “proper equipment ” , how will that lower the costs. I smell rats. Good info! Thank you all.

  13. Great article Jeff! I am completely not in agreement with this decision. Nascar is finding more and more ways to turn CUP into IROC I’m afraid. If there are no competitive advantages gained anywhere to include pit road…and without passing on the track…we become even less interesting.

  14. If they want to cut costs only allow teams to bring 8 people per car to the track and the teams can figure out whether they want a NFL athlete pit crew or guys who know how to work on cars and that does not mean a 4 car team can use all 32 for all their cars just 8 per car no helping teammates it is unfair to one car and low budget teams.

  15. Guess someone is getting paid under the table. Sure nascar is really worried about air guns that cost less than a weekend of tires.

  16. For those who don’t know, Paoli impact guns are from Italy and are used in Formula 1. A 1/2″ impact gun is about $900. A 1″ gun is over $3000

  17. I’ve been thinking about this for awhile….recently there was mention of air jacks (which I’m all for, to be honest). I then got to thinking about the air guns, and stories about what the JGR group had achieved. My take–let technology work out a solution here, but make it ELECTRIC–no more air hoses to run over. A sponsor opportunity, so the guns are a “issued at the track” item that the supplier maintains and brings to each race.

  18. I think it is stupid they should leave it alone because they still find a way around it anyway so nascar just forget don’t do this rule it is stupid rule

    1. Eww…i never heard that one before but if true I am seriously pissed off..my other thought is one set of tires..you can only replace a flat..back to basics

  19. How far into ‘18 will it be before we get the first
    “Illegal Air Gun Modification” penalty?

  20. Nascar lose the segment racing or quit counting caution laps. It is a a waste of money for the fans. Quit Makin so many rules. That’s why the stands are empty. I’m a long time fan but I’m getting to the point I’m not interested. Kyle bush misses 9 races then wins championship. Come on that’s Rediculous safety change I understand but not tire gun technology .

  21. I like bmx points…1 point for finishing position…at end of season the one with fewest points wins period.

  22. The point of racing, from a manufacturer’s standpoint, is to push innovation. When a part becomes standardized, innovation is frozen. So much in NASCAR is spec’d that it is hard to imagine a company wanting to come in with new ideas (innovation also has a close relationship with money).

    INDYCAR has done a bunch of this, and they are dying.

    I understand the want to control costs so everyone can play. Bad news, racing is expensive. Worse news, it’s also Darwinian. Those that can out-spend and out-innovate everyone else usually win. Trying to dial that out of racing makes it boring. People tune out. And the money goes away.

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