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Practice makes perfect on pit stops

NASCAR Know-How CLICK THE IMAGE TO LAUNCH CLIP Rusty Wallace explains how the pit crew practices for a race. Start (393K .mov) Archives • Click here for past editions of Rusty Wallace's NASCAR Know-How

This week's question is, how often does a Winston Cup pit crew practice?

The first thing to remember is that most members have regular jobs. They aren't full-time employees of the race team, so it's just a hobby. Finding time to practice is difficult, but most teams spend at least one hour a week preparing for races.

Practice actually starts with the previous week's race. The team tapes its pit stops with a camera mounted over the pit stall. During the race the crew will watch the tape to correct mistakes, but they'll study the tape even more when they return home, looking for improvement.

Once they finish the classroom review, they practice the real thing -- every scenario -- gas and go, two tires, four tires, no tires. And believe me, on Sunday it helps.

In fact, I'd say that practice is one of the main reasons pit stops have become so much faster in the last 10 years. Do you know that 20 years ago pit stops took about 25 seconds? Now they take 16. That's a pretty big change, and that difference can help you win or lose a race.