HMS, SHR and JGR have an online beef over who has the fastest pit-stop in the mono-lug era

Pitstops are one of the crucial moments of a race that can make or break a driver's race.

HMS, SHR and JGR have an online beef over who has the fastest pit-stop in the mono-lug era

Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott (Via IMAGO)

NASCAR used to have a dated five-lug wheel assembly in the older generation of cars and was criticized for its slow pitstop times. However, this changed with the introduction of NextGen cars in 2021, when a mono-lug was introduced. This change has now inadvertently led to a clash between HMS, SHR, and JGR crews, as all of them are claiming the fastest pitstop ever completed in NASCAR history.

With the phasing out of the five-lug pattern, the average pitstop time reduced from 15-20 seconds to the 10-second mark. This shift has led to a battle between the teams for claiming the fastest pitstop to their team’s accolades. Subsequently, HMS claimed the fastest pitstop by Texas servicing race winner, Chase Elliott‘s car in 8.49 seconds. However, this claim was soon diminished by the social media admins of SHR and JGR.

Following this, SHR claimed to have completed the pitstop in 8.45 seconds, pipping the HMS squad by four-hundredths of a second. However, then JGR claimed an 8.39 seconds pitstop for Christopher Bell‘s pit crew, throwing the situation into a frenzy. This has now unintentionally raised a beef between three teams who all claim to have achieved the fastest pitstop and now await the official timings by NASCAR.

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HMS had a pit-stop nightmare at Texas as well

While HMS had a blazing-fast pitstop on one end of the garage, on the other end things did not go their way as the crew would have hoped for. Kyle Larson after receiving a new pair of boots had to crawl back to his outbox just a dozen laps later as his wheel nut loosened and his right-rear tire left the wheel assembly.

Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)
Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)

The HMS crew had tightened the right-rear tire in less than four seconds. So, the most probable possibility is that in a hurry, the gunman did not tighten the wheel nut properly. This eventually led the wheel to make its way out of the assembly and leave the Chevy behind.

Moreover, Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddik also had trouble with their pitstops and had a race to forget. However, the race to claim the fastest pitstop is still on and is expected to be resolved in the coming few days.

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