It seems that the amount of fans that manage to get garage passes has grown out of proportion. The team sponsors hand out hundreds of them to their business outlets in the areas where the races are held. A friend of mine has a son who owns an auto parts store. He gets at least two garage passes and race tickets every year to both Pocono races. The parts store chain he's associated with sponsors a Cup racecar.
Drivers continue to express concerns for the fans safety in the garage area.
Quite a few of them have almost hit fans that dart in front of their moving racecars. The presence of a horde of fans in the garage area interferes with the teams while they are trying to prepare for competition. They are constantly bombarded with fans sticking things in their face for them to autograph. It's hard to concentrate on competition when you have to endure that, and lots of teams' claim it isn't fair, they are being disadvantaged. A lot of drivers and team owners feel that having the fans in the garage areas is part of racing.