What is JGR’s game-changing pit strategy that stole the limelight during the Daytona 500 week? Everything you need to know

Joe Gibbs Racing has a new pit road strategy in place for this year’s Daytona 500. Bozi Tatrevic, a writer at Road and Track and Motorsport, explained the same through a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter.

According to Tatrevic, when the car pulls up next to its designated pit box, a crew member will hold up a tablet facing the driver while the fueler does his job. The tablet will show a timer denoting how long it takes to feed the tank.

Once the tank is full, the timer goes off and the screen turns green, signaling the driver to drive away. Here is the thread that Tatrevic posted a few hours ago:

One might wonder if the fuel tank is somehow linked to the tablet, rumored to be an iPad. Addressing the same, Tatrevic wrote,

“There is likely an app that is connected from the pit box to that tablet that is constantly transmitting the latest time needed on every lap so whenever the crew member hops over and hits the button, the countdown is already set at exactly the time required.”

“The only manual step of the process is likely the front crew member hitting the button once the fueler is plugged in…” he added.

The method is simple and yet, quite innovative. The Next Gen era has leveled the field for every Cup Series team out there, and therefore, coming up with ways to reduce time in pit road only makes sense. It’s not cheating, just a strategic tweak.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver earns TRD’s first Daytona 500 pole

Joe Gibbs Racing newcomer Chase Briscoe will start first in his debut (at the Daytona 500) with the North Carolina-based outfit. It was indeed a major milestone achievement for Toyota Racing Development, given that TRD had never won the pole for the crown jewel race before.

Briscoe churned out a fast lap at 182.745 miles per hour in his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric qualified second at 182.463.

Reflecting on the support of his team ahead of the 67th Daytona 500, the 30-year-old native of Mitchell, Indiana, said,

"What an unbelievable way to start off the year. Unbelievable way to start off with Toyota, to be able to be the guy to deliver them the first of anything when they’ve already accomplished so much is pretty cool. Man, to think I’m going to start on the pole of the Great American Race is unbelievable.” (0:16)

“Just can’t thank Coach Gibbs, the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization. The whole offseason, everybody kept telling me the focus was trying to qualify better at superspeedways. That’s something I really struggled at last year. For our 19 group to come here and sit on the pole at the biggest race of the year is pretty special," he added." (0:38)

The 500-miler is scheduled for Sunday, February 16. Fans can watch the race live on FOX from 1:30 pm ET onwards or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.