Johnson avoids pit violation penalty

Jimmie Johnson did not face a penalty when his pit crew serviced the No. 48 Chevrolet outside the pit box Sunday afternoon as lug nuts are a safety issue.

Under caution on Lap 280 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Johnson began to leave his pit when crew chief Chad Knaus told him to stop. Although Johnson backed up, he was still outside his box when the front tire changer either had to tighten or replace a lug nut on the left-front wheel.

NASCAR spokesmen Kurt Colbert said after the race the penalty in a situation like this is the team having a slow stop. Furthermore, it is something he said the sanctioning body has allowed all year.

And even though the NASCAR rule book states pitting outside the box is a one lap penalty, that does not apply here because "the penalty is incurred because they've had to fix it instead of going onto the track and having to deal with a penalty come Tuesday. ... It's in the interest of safety."

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Teams who lose a tire on the track because of unsecured lug nuts face automatic fines and suspensions. Kyle Busch's crew chief and other key members of his team were issued four-week suspensions for that happening in the June race at Dover.

There are also penalties for teams who finish the race and are found with unsecure lug nuts. However, Johnson admitted Sunday he and his team knew there would be no penalty for what happened on pit road. A few weeks ago at New Hampshire a similar thing happened and NASCAR clarified for them then it would not be considered pitting outside the box.

"If we would have known there was [going to be] another caution we would just go and run and then come back in and put all your lug nuts back on and you're fine," Johnson said. "To go to the end, you get nervous and don't want to get fined."

Although he lost his track position, Johnson, who was the defending winner at Charlotte, recovered to finish seventh.