It is the 42nd lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race when driver Josh Berry radios that his Ford Mustang needs a pit stop. Moments later, the No. 21 car brakes into pit road, where tire changers, fuelers and jackmen spring into action, servicing the car in less than 10 seconds.
Those 10 seconds may seem as frantic as they are brief, but the real work came during training sessions and setup prior to the race. Along the 3.4-mile course at Naval Air Station North Island, similar moments play out dozens of times throughout the afternoon as thousands of spectators watch in person and a national television audience tunes in.
The Coronado News would spend the day at the NASCAR Cup Series race, following the crew of the No. 21 Ford Mustang fielded by Wood Brothers Racing with driver Josh Berry. And witnessing how race weekends are not sprints — they’re marathons.
9 a.m.
The Mustang sits outside a trailer-like garage, lined up alongside the 38 other race cars.
Its side fenders and front and rear bumpers are bright white, contrasted by a cherry-red hood. A gold No. 21 adorns the front fender, while a white No. 21 stretches across the top. Brand names including Motorcraft, Quick Lane, DEX and Ford Racing are plastered across the vehicle. The engine, a Roush Yates Engines-built Ford V8, churns with 670 horsepower, a speed machine.
Mechanics and engineers are stationed in the Cup Series garage with No. 21. Rusty Loggins, a longtime NASCAR transporter, hauled the car from North Carolina the week before.
He explains that the road crew is composed of mechanics and engineers who work on the car all week, while the pit crew consists of athletes who arrive on race days.
“(The road crew) are the ones working on the car, making adjustments and getting the setup right,” Loggins said. “The pit crew is a crew of five guys that go over the wall and do pit stops in less than 10 seconds.”
9:30 a.m.
Over on pit road the five person pit crew is already setting up a two-level pit box. On the bottom, there’s a command center with monitors displaying live race broadcasts and scoring. There are heavy metal drawers filled with specialized equipment, nitrogen bottles to power air guns, wrenches, spare parts and the like. Around the box sits massive fuel tanks and fresh tires stacked on top of another.
The top of the pit box is an elevated, canopy-covered viewing deck featuring seating for the crew chief and engineers, communication headsets, and a massive bank of data-monitoring screens.
“It takes about 45 minutes to get set up every week. That’s a huge weight off our shoulders,” says Parks Jones, a tire changer.
Because of the layout of the temporary course at North Island, the car enters the pit stall differently than on a typical track.
“Things can go wrong quick,” Jones says.
Normally assigned to change the front tires, Jones is preparing to work on the rear tires instead because the track is reversed.
Jones says the crew practices pit stops three days a week. Many members were jocks in high school or college. During the week, they work with an athletic trainer and focus on recovery.
“My hips hurt. There are so many minute movements,” Jones says. “You get a lot of back injuries or ACL injuries.”
Landon Honeycutt, the crew’s jackman, says he swims to help his body recover and stay in shape.
The crew travels to races for 36 weekends each season.
10 a.m.
The pit crew walks back to the garage and assists the road crew with final adjustments to the car.
Kirk Almquist, the team’s car chief, has been doing the job since 1999 and has worked in NASCAR since 2017. He and Miles Stanley, the crew chief, make the major decisions.
Almquist says NASCAR vehicles must pass a series of inspections before race day, including an overbody scanner that evaluates factors such as weight and body dimensions. He explains that the parameters are strict and technical.
When asked whether the car ever fails inspection, Almquist laughs.
“Oh, yeah, we fail all the time.”
While the car is being prepared in the garage, Honeycutt discusses race strategy. He explains that teams constantly balance two goals: earning stage points and gaining track position for later in the race.
“We might pit before the stage and try to cycle up a bit,” Honeycutt says.
He also explains that every week, coaches review video of pit stops and critique the crew’s performance.
“We kind of just take it to the chin and forget about it,” he said, laughing.
Throughout the day, the crew members constantly crack jokes to one another. Jones and Honeycutt both said they were not nervous.
“He just sits here and looks pretty,” one of the crew says, talking about Honeycutt. They both laugh.
11 a.m.
The crew rolls the car to the track before taking a break to eat lunch and rest. Engines are not started until before the race.
“It’s like golf, if you’re nervous all day, you’ll gas yourself out,” Jones says.
12:30 p.m.
Fans gather to view the cars before the race.
The crew lays out on a foam roller, stretching while they wait for the track to clear. By this point, members have their fire suits half zipped up.
1 p.m.
The race begins, Josh Berry starts near the back of the pack, in 35th place.
Crew members immediately turn their attention to times and scoring data. Throughout the race, the driver, spotter and crew chief remain in constant communication through radios. The crew is not noisy, but collected and calm – they are focused on the screens, hardly talking, but intently watching.
The crew chief and engineers monitor the race from atop the pit box while guests watch from seats behind them.
1:45 p.m.
The crew completes its first pit stop of the day in 10 seconds. Josh Berry is in 27th place when he enters pit road, but the lightning-fast stop allows him to leapfrog several cars.
It’s like a highly choreographed dance in which each crew member has a specific role: jacking up the car, changing tires, making adjustments and cleaning the windshield.
Jones says the goal is to accomplish all of that in under 10 seconds. “If you run a 9.5-second pit stop — every tenth after that is like 300 feet lost on the track.”
Pit stops are also among the most dangerous moments of a race.
“We’re allowed to jump in front of the car when the car is one pit box away,” Jones says. “If the driver misses the pit box, that’s when people usually get hit. One guy got hit and was out cold,” he said referring to a previous race that season.
2:25 p.m.
The crew completes its second pit stop of the day. Berry is in 18th place.
The crew springs into action once again. They are perched on the pit wall in a ready position, waiting for the No. 21 Ford to come screeching to a halt. They jump in front of the car when Berry reaches the adjacent pit box.
A harmonized madness erupts. Tires are flung and rolled. The 6-foot-4 jackman lifts one side of the car, then the other, as wrenches whine and tires are changed. In seconds, the engine roars and the car is back in action.
Approximately 3:15 p.m.
On Lap 43, Berry’s car is hit from behind and spins out. Watching intently from the war wagon monitors, the Wood Brothers Racing crew witnesses the entire wreck unfold in real time.
Collective groans immediately fill the team radio headsets as they watch the No. 21 car snap sideways and take a heavy secondary hit from Cole Custer.
NASCAR requires the team to pit for repairs. Crew members cut away crushed bodywork around the front wheel so the car can continue safely, but the damage and time lost effectively end any chance of working back through the field.
“There’s no climbing back at that point,” Jones said.
Approximately 4 p.m.
Twenty-three-year-old Corey Heim wins the cup series race. Berry is 29th to take the checkered flag in a field of 39 cars.
One of the crew members, Anthony Briarly, who throws the fuel hose said, “It sucks when you wreck, but it’s kind of like the luck of the sport.”
The crew begins breaking down the pit box.
“I had a good day,” Jones says. “I feel overall our crew did a good job today and we’re gonna fight back. Josh is ready to fight back, too.”
The pit crew packs up its equipment, ready for trucks to haul everything to Sonoma Raceway in California for another NASCAR day of racing.
