We have talked about it time and time again, but pit crew members are true athletes and they put themselves in danger each and every week that they hop over the pit road wall.
In Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway, Daniel Suárez came into his pit stall a little hot during a pit stop. As he skidded through his stall, Suárez made slight contact with his jack man Josh Appleby, and he made large contact with his front tire changer Cory Baldwin, who went tumbling out of the pit box and was laying on pit road in the path of oncoming traffic.
Additionally, tire carrier Jeremy Kimbrough made an evasive move to not get hit by the No. 99 car, which also put him in a precarious spot on pit road.
If there was ever any doubt, pit crews are true athletes. It’s the worst feeling knowing I could have really hurt one of my guys, thankfully it didn’t come to that! Came in too hot & misjudged my stall, but Cory Jeremy Josh Milan & Jerick handled it like pros. Sorry again boys?? pic.twitter.com/HhXS7Z51or
— Daniel Suárez (@Daniel_SuarezG) August 15, 2022
As you can see in the video, Baldwin was narrowly avoided by Noah Gragson, who actually slowed and nearly stopped his No. 16 Kaulig Racing machine in an effort to not hit the crew members.
Suárez, who has had a great season so far, finished 19th in Sunday’s race at Richmond and was two laps off the pace of race winner Kevin Harvick. While it wasn’t his best day on the track, I think Suárez and his Trackhouse Racing team is just thankful that all of their pit crew members were able to leave the race in good health following a scary situation.