Scott's Pit Box: Why a little $2.50 part is such a big deal in the pits

So the big discussion as of late has been lug nuts.  There has been a sense of change in the pits in the last year when NASCAR made changes to the rule book and left it up to the teams to decide whether or not to put all five lugs on the wheel.  Two weeks ago NASCAR went back and decided to change it where teams must have all five on the car but it seems there is still a gray area teams are working around.

Teams glue lug nuts to the wheel before each pit stop using a Contact Adhesive from either 3M or Loctite .  So the lugs are on the wheel already when the tire carrier slaps them up for the tire changer to hit them with the gun.  The little gray area it seems is teams might be using an unthreaded lug nut on the fifth stud and skipping it.  On NASCAR America last night there was a clear shot of the No. 20 crew hitting 4 of the lugs and jumping over the fifth.  So they have to be using something like an unthreaded nut so it goes straight over the stud bolt.

Safety is the biggest concern with the cars.  If you don't get the lugs tightened up on the wheel there is a chance of an accident happening on pit road.  Also there is another problem that can happen as it did with the 78 team on Saturday night.  Over tightening the lugs can result in a bad vibration and breaking a stud off.  NASCAR has been checking each team after the end of the last two events and so far no team has had a problem having all their lugs tightened at the end of the race.

On April 25, 2016 each team received a memo from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Managing Director Richard Buck stating that effective immediately, updates to the rule book would be made to reinforce expectations THAT ALL FIVE LUG NUTS be installed in a safe and secure manner throughout all national series events.