NASCAR amends pit procedures for Atlanta

NASCAR has made two pit road procedural changes ahead of the Cup and Xfinity Series races this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

First, one minute has been added to the damaged vehicle policy (DVP) clock. In the Xfinity Series, teams will now have seven minutes to make repairs to their vehicles after an incident. In the Cup Series, teams will now have eight minutes.

The DVP clock starts when a vehicle enters pit road after an on-track incident and stops when the vehicle crosses the exit of pit road. Teams must make repairs in the allotted time, and when the drivers return to the track, they must meet minimum speed.

Also adjusted for this weekend is pit road speed. There will be two different speeds depending on where a driver is located.

Pit road speed under green flag conditions:

• P1 to P3 (sections 1 and 2 of pit road) will be 90mph.
• P3 to P20 (sections 3 through 18 of pit road) will be 45mph.

Pit road speed under caution conditions:

• 45mph the entire length of pit road from Turn 3 to the white commitment line at the exit of pit road near Turn 1.

NASCAR made the latter change to help keep drivers from going a lap down. Atlanta Motor Speedway is a superspeedway-style racetrack, and the commitment line to pit road is the entrance to Turn 3. In the spring, drivers who made pit stops under green-flag conditions lost a lap because of having to run the slower pit road speed while on the apron in Turns 3 and 4 coming to pit road.