Why would a NASCAR driver get penalized for driving too fast?

May be...

It all comes down to safety, and people get penalized all the time. The difference is that Montoya thinks everyone is out to get him. Nascar can't help it that he is paranoid.

He was driving too fast on pit road. There are speed limits on each track to ensure safety for workers and officials that are over the wall. These people are completely unprotected (other than a helmet) and need to concentrate on their jobs. They should not have to worry about getting clipped by a car doing 75 mph trying to skid into the next pit box.

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the speed limit on pit road is 55 mph. NASCAR gives drivers a 5 mph buffer as they don't have speedometers. They have to rely on their Tachometer, which is why they follow the pace car at 55 mph. Montoya was clocked going over 60 mph twice, once at 60.06 & once at 60.11. I know this looks like only .06 & .11 over, but in reality, he was doing 5.06 & 5.11 over.

Driving too fast on the pit stop.

first it was a pit road speeding it can endanger others that are on pit road

Rules are rules.

To correctly answer your question a speed penalization occurs within the "Pit Road". The Pit Road is a stretch of track in which stock cars enter to receive fuel, new tires etc. It is occupied by the team pit crew members and cars at standstill. It becomes a safety issue if drivers enter or exit Pit Road at track speed. Therefore per NASCAR regulations a speed limit is maintained on Pit Road to avoid collisions and human injury.


Thus many drivers are penalized for driving too fast within Pit Road

The PIT ROAD is very dangerous for the crew and Indianapolis is very narrow and long, there is a line on both ends where you must be below the given speed. Even Formula 1 GP has adopted the speed limit idea alto their limits are much higher, they used to scream in, until they lost 3 crewmen in 1 year.

They have a speed limit for pit road on every track. They do it for the safety of the pit crews. The restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega are done for safety of the drivers and fans. I'm all for letting these guys go as fast as possible as long as it is safe for the drivers, fans, and race teams.

Come on, SAFETY in the area where the tire changers, mechanics, etc. work. The cars can't stop for work running 190 mph. This is simple.

Juan Pablo Montoya was penalized for speeding on pit road. It is a safety issue. With crew members out in the boxes working on cars, you can't have people tearing in with no speed limit. It has been this way for years. Lots of people have been penalized for it. In a Nationwide race earlier this season at Kentucky, Carl Edwards received like 3 penalties. Not sure why it's so much of an issue now.

the only reason why a NASCAR driver would get penalized for driving too fast would be if they were going to pit road

There is a speed limit on pit road. In the early '90's, Ricky Rudd lost control of his race car on pit road and ran into Bill Elliott's right rear quarterpanel, pinning tire changer Mike Rich between the two cars, fatally wounding him. That is why NASCAR implemented a pit road speeding penalty. It's sad someone had to die to make NASCAR implement the rule, but that happens a lot.
Restrictor plates are implemented because a crash severely injured great NASCAR driver Bobby Allison.
Watch the second video Zachary S posted and you will see why they have restrictor plates. The first video he posted shows Mike Rich's fatal accident. (Great Job, Zachary!!!!!)
Because NASCAR doesn't want to make it where drivers die every year.
How exactly did you establish how fast a "raped ape" goes?
Makes me wonder.....

Well if you saw yesterday's race at Indy you'd be referring to Juan Pablo Montoya's penalty for speeding on pit road. See, the rule is you can only go up to 75 mph on pit road.

Nascar says a driver will get penalized if they drive too fast for security
reasons. They have set a speed limit. But, I think Nascar is too strict with
it. If a driver goes a little too fast like Montoya did yesterday, they should give him the benefit of the doubt. But, if they go way too fast, then they should be penalized.

The thing about Montoya is that Nascar didn't want him to win, they wanted a Hendrick driver to win, which is what happened. Nascar is rigged.

Those are the rules. It's not right, but that's the way it is.

Nice rant, btw. You can jam one up there, too. I wouldn't know how fast a raped ape goes. Guess that's your area of expertise.

Drivers already have a pit road limit, but they're allowed a cushion. Montoya went over that allowance. Besides, have you no concern for the safety of the pit crews?

There is a certain speed on pit road that has to be maintained and not go over. This happends at almost every race...someone speeding on pit road. Pit road is not the race track...the reduce speed signs are not an option. It's for the safety of the pit crew. I haven't got the slightest idea why Juan Pablo Montoya's speeding on pit road made such a huge media event and why we are even getting questions about it. Yeah he was winning...but those are the breaks in racing. Jr. was ahead too and blew and engine, Kyle Busch was ahead and did something...blew a tire or something.. I don't see the rabid media going after them as much. Which I am sure is like a vacation for those two.

Because it is a danger to the pit crews. They can't have 43 cars going down a small pit road at 200 mph.

Wow I'm impressed. Not many people who aren't into NASCAR even know what a restrictor plate is, much less what it's used for. If you know that much then you should know that pit lane is a very dangerous place and if a crewman got hit by a car going 180 m/h then the outcome of that might not be so good (for the crewman). So that's why NASCAR has speed limits on pit lane, so that crewmen don't get hit and go flying into the stands whenever a car comes down to be serviced.

Juan went like 0.69 MPH too fast in the pit lane(barely 1 mph over the 60 MPH limit)

Pretty petty crap, but that's NASCAR...they don't want anyone but good- ol' boys winning...

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big fan of NASCAR, but this just sounds goofy.

Isn't the whole idea of a race to go fast as hell?

Of course, I'm against the whole idea of restrictor plates as well. If I pay good money to go watch a race, I want to see guys driving as fast as is earthly possible. Jam a rocket up your *ss for all I care as long as it makes you go like a raped ape.

Pit Road has a strict speed limit for good reason. I too am against restrictor plates. I would like to go back to the Run Like Hell 60's. If you watch the Nostalgia flicks, when King Richard was making his mark, you will see that they were running Big Block Engines. When they started running regular speeds over 200, with cars bigger and heavier than they have now, they started downsizing. When the engineers found ways to get more power from small blocks, they restricted them too. Nascar, no longer has stock cars. I'd like to start a Run Watcha Brung League. Big Blocks, Fuel Injection, HEI ignitions, etc. No more templates either. See races won by 2 or 3 laps again, cause the best car won, with the best team, and driver.

Speeding in the pits where people are working on the cars is dangerous. People were hit in the past and nobody wants that to happen again since someone could be killed again.

They can go as fast as they want on the track.

LuvMy901 and Rita - Speed limit was 55 and NASCAR gives them a 5 mph buffer. Juan was going 60.6 or something.

There is a speed limit on pit road, because for "one", there are people on pit road, and for "two", it adds to the intensity of the race to have to make your race car perform in that capability also. A lot of drivers screw up. speeding on pit road. Kinda like on the public streets. Anyone ever get a speeding ticket? I haven't heard the phrase "raped ape" since '83, when my friend pulled up in his Dodge Dart Demon, with a 340, and said "this thing runs like a raped ape" I had to think about that one for awhile.

unfortunately safety take a roll in nascar pit road you have to obey the speed limit you might as well slow down cuz you gotta stop n e way i mean nascar has some messed up ways but id have to agree with them this time there are 6 brave souls that go over the wall to service the car you have to keep them in mind if you like all out speed watch f-1 they have a small family reunion when they service a car the penalty was not for on the track speeding if there is such a thing also im for slowing down for cautions someone can get t-boned real bad

NASCAR instituted pit-road speed limits back around 1991 after Bill Elliott's rear-tire changer, Mike Rich, was killed during a pit stop when he was crushed by Ricky Rudd's spinning car.

FYI - Yesterday's speed limit was 55mph and NASCAR gives a 5mph cushion. JPM was given an inch and took a mile.

It's a safety issue. All the pit crew guys are way to vulnerable with speeding cars zooming by. It's not just the drivers and fans NASCAR needs to protect it's also everyone on pit road. And I agree with you about the restrictor plate although I know NASCAR won't ever take those things off either because of another safety issue.vadem clio sync