The pits at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway measure 25 feet wide. A stock car fills most of that space. What is left belongs to the crew. On September 12, an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series crash on pit road forced a question that could no longer wait.
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“Remove this wall; it’s way too tight. I believe they need to knock this pit wall down and move it. Give these pit guys a little bit of room because I’m nearly rolling over the ankles of the guy who’s changing tires in front. This is a dangerous spot for sure,” Denny Hamlin told Frontstretch after Sunday’s Cup race.
Six days after Denny Hamlin spoke, NASCAR confirmed that competition officials will visit Gateway within the week. They will explore possible changes to the pit-road configuration. No specific changes have been announced.
The crash gave NASCAR something concrete to examine. William Sawalich checked up entering pit road on Lap 50. Cars behind him had no time to respond. Rajah Caruth’s No. 88 Chevrolet ended up perpendicular across the pit entry.
Nick Sanchez’s No. 87 Chevrolet slid into Brent Crews’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota while its crew worked beside the car. Tire carrier Brad Donaghy had a fresh tire knocked from his hands. Rear tire changer Bryan Backus and jackman Matt Wilps were both struck. Nobody was seriously hurt. The race went red for 7 minutes and 54 seconds.
“Get one lug nut in, and next thing you know, I’m laying over top of the jack,” Backus told NASCAR.com. “If that was even a foot closer to Brad, he’d have been 40 yards down pit road. I looked over and the whole quarter panel was crushed in. So if I was a foot to my left, or if our car parked a foot back, it was like, wow.”
Backus had rehearsed the approach with pit coach Terry Spalding on Thursday, knowing the box required coming around the car ahead. Backus said NASCAR is doing what it can with the existing facility, but acknowledged that widening it would be welcome.
Denny Hamlin pushed for a concrete standard on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I don’t believe that there’s any legit reason that the pit wall itself, that concrete wall, can’t move in 10 feet, 12 feet,” he said. “You can’t let money get in the way of safety. I’d rather them just do something before someone gets hurt versus after.”
During the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota clipped Joey Logano’s tire changer Tanner Andrews pulling out of his stall. He accepted responsibility after reviewing the footage. Gateway brought that back. At 40 mph, the pit-road speed limit, a stock car covers nearly 59 feet every second. Only Indianapolis Motor Speedway, at 24 feet, has a narrower pit lane. Pit road was not the only thing Gateway exposed that weekend.
Gateway’s Brake Problem Ran the Whole Race
The Cup race on September 13 produced 18 cautions and 87 caution laps. Five drivers lost their races to brake failures. Zane Smith hit the wall on Lap 131. Ryan Blaney’s right-front rotor burst through his hood on Lap 155. Noah Gragson went out on Lap 199. Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet sent black smoke into Turn 1 on Lap 214 and collected Chase Briscoe. Chris Buescher followed on Lap 238, two laps from the end, and the race went to overtime.
“Gateway has always been a place that’s tough on brakes. We certainly were trying to be conservative, but still didn’t give it enough cooling, I don’t think,” said Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler.
The 2026 rules package brought 750 horsepower with reduced aerodynamic downforce. More speed down the straights meant heavier braking demand. Teams could open brake ducts for more cooling, but doing so costs aerodynamic performance. Most teams managed it. Five did not.
Hamlin said his brakes were close in the final laps. “It was getting hot when they stopped us. I truthfully think that those red flags would cause more rotors to blow because it’s like a rotor’s heat soak with a car sitting there, no air going through it,” he said.
Through all of it, the championship picture still changed. Denny Hamlin finished ninth and picked up 33 points. Kyle Larson won and earned 73, cutting the gap to nine points. Christopher Bell is 18 points back. Ryan Blaney dropped to 33 behind after his brake failure. Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe both lost ground after being collected in the Lap 214 crash.
Larson is on pole for the Bristol Motor Speedway night race on September 19. Denny Hamlin starts third. The race has not yet run. NASCAR’s Gateway inspection has no confirmed timeline. The governing body is examining the layout. What it finds will determine what comes next.