RELATED: Chase Grid | Race results[1][2]
At one point during Sunday's Hellmann's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway[3], Joey Logano[4]'s chances for Chase advancement were on the verge of being hijacked -- by a jack that stuck to his car during a pit stop, no less.
And for a few tense moments Logano circled the track with the jack stuck under the left side of his car, reaching speeds of 150 mph down the backstretch of the gargantuan 2.66-mile superspeedway, trying to swerve and get it loose.
Luckily for the No. 22 Team Penske[5] outfit, Logano made it to pit road to get the unwanted stowaway removed from the underside of the car.
So, what happened to cause Logano to take such a ride on the wild side?
We asked pit coach Trent Cherry of Team Penske[6] to clarify:
"The left side peg was set deep on the jack plate," Cherry said. "When the car dropped on the left side, the peg slid off the back of the plate and got wedged in the jack."
So in layman's terms it's explained like this. The peg that is attached to the race car was on the back of the jack plate. The jackman probably understood that and knew that he could still jack the left side and be OK. But when the car dropped, the jack slipped off the back of the plate and fell into a wedged position preventing the jack from releasing from the car.
Got all that?
Pit road mistakes can make a big difference this time of year, but the No. 22 team rebounded from the mishap as Logano won the race.
References
- ^ Chase Grid (www.nascar.com)
- ^ Race results (www.nascar.com)
- ^ Talladega Superspeedway (www.nascar.com)
- ^ Joey Logano (www.nascar.com)
- ^ Team Penske (www.nascar.com)
- ^ Team Penske (www.nascar.com)
