Breaking: Rule change unlikely after Christopher Bell’s extra Las Vegas pit stop

NASCAR is taking a closer look at its penalty for drivers stopping outside their designated pit stalls, but a rule change isn’t expected—at least not right away—following Christopher Bell’s unusual stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, shared this insight on the latest episode of the Hauler Talk podcast. He explained that safety concerns played a key role in NASCAR’s decision to maintain the current rule for the upcoming race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“In our view, a tire coming off the car is a very dangerous situation,” Forde said, emphasizing the risk of a 3,500-pound car colliding with a heavy tire and potentially launching it into the stands.

That concern is why NASCAR ultimately accepted what Bell’s team did—even applauded them to some extent. After a pit stop in last weekend’s Cup Series race, Bell realized he had a loose wheel. Instead of risking it coming off on track, his team instructed him to stop in another team’s pit stall—the No. 19 team’s—so they could tighten it.

While this move cost Bell a penalty—forcing him to restart at the back of the field—it also helped him avoid a much bigger problem. If the wheel had come off, two of his crew members would have faced a two-race suspension, as happened to Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch’s teams.

After the race, Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, told Racer that the move was within the rules and something the team had discussed beforehand. Forde confirmed on Hauler Talk that, as far as he knew, NASCAR had never policed this kind of situation before.

Still, NASCAR is reviewing the rule to ensure it strikes the right balance between safety and competition. Forde noted that stopping to fix a loose wheel is one thing, but what if a driver pulls into another team’s pit stall for something that gives them a competitive advantage—like topping off their fuel?

“That is a little bit different in our opinion,” Forde explained. “That’s the discussion we’re having now. Do we need to look a little bit deeper to say, ‘OK, this is not really in the spirit of the rule?’

“Safety is one thing, a competitive advantage is another. So that’s really the conversation we’ll continue to have. But going into Homestead, no changes to the rule. Somewhere in the future? Potentially.”