The over-the-wall pit crew for the NASCAR Cup Series Team Penske No. 12 has struggled a bit this season so the organization has made a swap with one of its satellite teams.
These challenges most recently came to a head two weeks ago at Darlington when a pair of slow pit stops cost Blaney both track position and arguably the win on a late decisive pit stop prior to a green-white-checkered finish.
At the time, crew chief Jonathan Hassler conceded the status quo wasn’t entirely working.
“The group’s perfectly capable,” Hassler explained. “We’ve just got to clean it up, and we’ll be there, hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
Penske instead has changed the group up just a little bit. Front tire changer Ryan Flores is being moved to the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 to work with driver Zane Smith in exchange for Keiston France who moves over in a direct trade off.
Front Row receives pit crews from Penske, who has the ability to make those changes unilaterally. Front Row would have to pay more to develop its own over-the-wall crew and this is something several smaller teams work out with larger teams to get top tier crew members but also risk losing them when they perform well.
It’s a trade-off.
