North Wilkesboro delivered. The All-Star race was solid, but the undercard — NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge — stole the show. In a surprise twist, the No. 71 crew, a young, scrappy squad from Hendrick’s development ranks leased to Spire, took top honors. Most are fresh out of college, ex-football players, barely into their 20s. Their jackman pulled off a slick hybrid crossover move that blended techniques from rival top-tier teams. It wasn’t just fast — it was smart.
But here’s the problem: they didn’t have the fastest stop. That honor went to Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 crew. Why? Because NASCAR’s timing system bakes too much driver influence into the score. It’s less about pit crew speed, more about how well the driver hits timing lines. The system needs a reboot — now.
Over in Indy, Team Penske embarrassed themselves. Will Power and Josef Newgarden got booted to the back of the Indy 500 grid for running “cleaned-up” rear attenuators — spec parts with glued-on carbon plates, modified for aesthetics. Not performance. Still, it was illegal. The kicker? They’d been running these for over a year, and IndyCar just noticed — because another team ratted them out.
The penalty was harsh, maybe too harsh. But the bigger fail is how long IndyCar missed it. NASCAR would’ve caught this with its optical scanning rig in five minutes.
Lesson: race teams need clearer rule enforcement, not just better lawyers. And pit crews? Give them the credit — and timing tech — they deserve.
TTAC Creator Bozidar “Bozi” Tatarević is a Bosnian-American racing mechanic, writer, and technical consultant born in Sarajevo in 1986. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1995, he learned English in elementary school and eventually turned his passion for cars—fostered by his father Slav—into a full-time career. Laid off from a tech job in 2008, Bozi began wrenching professionally, eventually launching a shop and car export business with his family. His technical message board posts led to a writing career with outlets like TTAC, Motorsport.com, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering.
In 2018, he made his pro mechanic debut at Watkins Glen and now works as a tire carrier and mechanic for Vasser Sullivan Racing in IMSA, with 10 wins and a 2023 GTD Pro title. Bozi also consults via his agency Podium Prime, with clients ranging from race teams to media production companies.
The TTAC Creators Series tells stories and amplifies creators from all corners of the car world, including culture, dealerships, collections, modified builds and more.
