Sprint Cup Garage During Practice: Controlled Chaos

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The drivers only have a limited amount of time to get out on the track and to run practice laps during any given session, and with so many 850-horsepower racecars coming in hot for quick adjustments, then shooting out again, the garage area feels like hell in a very small place. In such close quarters, it’s kind of a miracle that crew members don’t get hurt more than they do, but they’re clearly experts in staying out of the way, just as they are in the pits. Another curiosity was that a handful of fans were milling around with garage passes—whether they got them through connections, contest giveaways, or some other means I’m not sure—and they had to be carefully herded behind a line on the pavement to keep them from getting nailed by incoming or outgoing cars. Meanwhile, cars in practice were shooting by on the track directly behind us, and the air was full of that rich, strangely roasted-chestnut smell of burning race gas. Click below the jump to watch and listen as the whole garage full of cars empties out at the beginning of practice!

In the final practice, the fastest car was Carl Edwards’ Ford, followed by Greg Biffle’s Ford and Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet.