Off to the races: Check out the blog by Times sportswriter Brant James as he reports from Speed Weeks in Daytona Beach.
NASCAR unveiled NFL-style hand signals for five pit road violations: pitting out of the box, noncompliant refueling, too many men over the wall, removing equipment and going over the wall too soon.
Five officials along pit road will first signal if the penalty is on a driver, team or equipment, then signal the penalty - a 15-second stop, one-lap penalty, a pass-through, a stop-and-go or joining the end of the longest line - then the infraction. More signals will be used later this season.
The signals, director of competition John Darby said, are meant to speed communication to teams and allow them to serve penalties more efficiently.
"The crew chief understands what he has to react to," Darby said. "Crew members often do not know. What is important is, for example, in a 15-second penalty on pit road, that penalty has to be acknowledged with no work being done to the car. If a crew member comes over the wall (before the penalty is over) or works on the car, that 15-second penalty starts all over again."
