Joe Gibbs Racing has lightning-quick pits stops in Atlanta

While Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Chevrolet was the class of the field for much of Sunday's Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Joe Gibbs Racing pit crews were certainly in a league of their own throughout the race.

Denny Hamlin's No. 11 team was especially strong, performing 11-second pit stops every time their driver came to pit road. While no one seemed to be able to get by Harvick on the track, Hamlin's pit crew successfully gave him the lead multiple times throughout the night.

The team's fastest stop of the night came at Lap 174, when the pit crew changed four tires and added two cans of fuel in an astonishing 11.0 seconds.

For Matt Kenseth, his fast pit crew was key, but so was his pit selection. Taking the first stall at the entrance of pit road, Kenseth was able to make gains getting into his stall, while his crew was able to gain him spots with their quick work.

Another thing that helped the JGR teams beat the competition on pit road is a reportedly new generation air gun being utilized by the teams as of late. Though few details are known about the new air guns at this point, their advantage was clear Sunday night.

After the race, Kenseth would not go into details about the new technology, saying he honestly had no idea, but credited the organization's training skills for the fast stops.

"Our pit crew's been doing a really good job," said Kenseth. "JGR has a pretty impressive program when it comes to training pit crews and coaching them and doing all that stuff as you would expect. So guys are really doing a good job."

The fast stops and pit selection was not lost on JGR's competition, especially Harvick and his crew chief Rodney Childers.

After losing the lead one again to Hamlin on pit road, Harvick radioed Childers to complain about the issue their team has battled throughout the year. The problem, however, was that despite the No. 4 team's fast stops -- also in the 11 to 12 second range -- Hamlin's crew was that much quicker.

Also going against Harvick and Childers was their choice in pit stalls. By qualifying on the pole, Childers had the first choice in pit selection and opted for the last stall before the exit of pit road. While the rest of the pit stalls are made up of concrete, Harvick's stall was asphalt. That caused the car to lack grip on exit, additionally thwarting their efforts to get out first.

Regardless of the No. 4 team's performance, which was still better than most, Hamlin's crew simply had the field covered on pit road all night long. That fact was not lost on the driver of the No. 11 Toyota, who finished the night third behind Kasey Kahne and Kenseth.

"We really overachieved with our pit stops -- those guys just kept me in it all day long and it's a great feeling when you come to pit road and you know you're going to come out first pretty much every time," said Hamlin. "If it wasn't for our pit crew, it was a tough fight for us, but they did a good job, the whole Sport Clips Camry team did today."

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