Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of Nascar! If you’re a new fan of stock car racing, this is the place for you! In this ten-part series we’ll take a look at what you should and could know about America’s #1 auto racing organization. Let’s get started!
For the purposes of this example we’ll be using a Sunday afternoon Cup Series race as an example. Also, this is the way things usually go normally, not during global pandemics.
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—Before getting to the track—Virtually all race teams are based in and around the Charlotte/Mooresville North Carolina region. Here in these shops, race cars are built (typically from the ground up) and engines are fine-tuned and installed. Highly-specialized engineers work hard to get the most out of every car part while trying to make the car as fast and stable as possible while staying within the Nascar rule book. Pit crew members spend most of their week training on-site, practicing pit stops over and over until their actions become muscle memory.
On Wednesday or Thursday (depending on how far away the track is), tractor-trailers known as “haulers” are loaded up with everything the team will need at the track—parts, pieces, food, pit crew equipment, and most importantly of all, two race cars. One car is typically designated the primary race car—the one they intend to use—while the backup is there in case the primary car is damaged before the race.
—Arrival—The haulers have typically been parked inside the track the night before, and the crew and driver have arrived by plane. Drivers usually stay in the infield in their luxury motor coaches, while the rest of the crew stays at a nearby hotel. The car is taken out of the hauler and parked in the team’s defined garage stall inside the track. While the crew puts the finishing touches on the car, the driver may be in the nearest city doing a sponsorship appearance. Once things are ready, there’s typically a first practice session that allows the team to see how good their car is while making adjustments—this is called “shaking down” the car.
—Practice—While preliminary races (like the Xfinity Series) are the main attraction the day before the race, there’s plenty of action going on for the Cup teams as well. Regardless of the number of practice sessions, the final one is always referred to as “Happy Hour”—while its not necessarily exactly sixty minutes long, its the last chance to make adjustments to the car. Practice is run by the team’s Crew Chief, who makes most of the race day strategy calls and is akin to a head coach. Meanwhile, adjustments to the car pre-race are usually under the supervision of the Car Chief, similar to that of a team’s assistant head coach.
—Inspection—Race cars are inspected numerous times throughout the race weekend, as the slightly adjustment could knock a car from legal to illegal in the eyes of Nascar. Originally done by hand using metal templates, inspection is now done in “the room of doom” using lasers. Drivers and teams are summarily penalized for not passing inspection, with penalties increasing (such as starting from the back of the field or the suspension of the car chief) with each time failed.
—Qualifying—Cars typically have two laps to make their fastest speed, with multiple rounds sorting out the slower cars from the fastest. Starting fields for Cup Series races are currently at 40 cars. 36 of these cars are “chartered race teams”, meaning that as long as they have a car that passes inspection, they start regardless of how slow their times are. The remaining four starting spots are “open”, meaning they are available to ANYONE with a fast enough race car to make the field. The fastest driver in the final round starts first in the pole position. Afterwards the car is impounded by Nascar and no changes can be made before the start of the race.
—Race Day Pre-Race—The morning of the race itself teams start final preparations—rolling out the high-tech “war wagon” pit box they operate from on pit road, pit crew members limbering up, preparing extra tires to be put on the car. The driver typically has a number of media and sponsor commitments—Nascar has always prided itself on its accessibility, and sponsorship dollars allow teams to operate. A few hours before the race drivers, crew chiefs, and assorted dignitaries are brought in for the drivers’ meeting. This meeting, usually run by a Nascar official, goes over rules and regulations (sometimes specific to that weekend’s race track) and and late-breaking changes. Drivers soon leave, typically signing autographs on their way, return to their motor coaches and change into their sponsor-emblazoned fire suits. Soon afterwards drivers—sometimes with their families—congregate behind a large stage and are introduced, one-by-one, in reverse order of their starting position. After introductions drivers go to their cars—parked in starting order on pit lane—and go through the final aspects of pre-race ceremonies, the invocation and national anthem. Upon entering their cars and being buckled in they get the final words of pre-race—“DRIVERS, START YOUR ENGINES!”.
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—The Race—Drivers leave pit road lined up two-wide by qualifying order. On these pace laps (which do not count towards the race total) drivers follow the pace car at comparatively low speed. This speed is important to register as it is also the speed cars must travel pit road at, lest they incur a speeding penalty. Once the pace car turns onto pit road, the green flag waves and the race begins!
Many factors go into running a successful race—obviously the biggest one is to avoid crashing/wrecking or damaging one’s car—but other important aspects include car setup, driver skill, making proper adjustments, and strategy. Modern races are split into three stages, which adds built-in “stage breaks” under caution while giving drivers the opportunity to earn additional championship points in the two earlier stages. Regardless of stages, cars can
only go so far on gasoline (almost always referred to as fuel), and on some rougher tracks, tire wear is an even bigger issue. Drivers can make pit stops either under caution laps (when cars are going slower due to danger on the track) or green flag laps, but either way speed is of the essence. Pit stops can be done as fast as twelve seconds, changing four tires and filling up on fuel in a flash. In the event that a car is damaged on-track a longer pit stop might be needed for repairs, but if a pit stop goes longer than five minutes, the car is automatically retired from the race. Cars can also be retired—referred to as a “DNF (Did Not Finish)” for serious crashes that cannot be fixed, parts failures such as engine trouble (aka “a blown engine”), or any number of broken moving parts on the car.
—After the Race—When the checkered flag waves the race is over. The winning driver will usually do a burnout on the track (also known as “doing donuts”) and will be interviewed by the television and radio networks. After that the winning car goes to victory lane for a more-formal celebration with the team’s pit crew, engineers, sponsors, and select family members.
Drivers who didn’t win pull onto pit road and exit their cars. High-finishing drivers may be asked to do interviews, while disappointed drivers may seek to “have a word” with other drivers they had issues with that day. The best-finishing drivers will also do a post-race press conference to answer questions from the news, sports, and local media.
Nascar television broadcasts often go off the air by showing “Unofficial Results”—this is because cars must pass inspection one final time for their finishing positions to be made official. Upon final inspection cars may be penalized (typically disqualified and moved to last place) or, if no cars are found to be in violation, an “all clear” is given.
That night pit crew members and the driver fly home to North Carolina, while the haulers are loaded up for the drive back to the shops. While Mondays are typically an off-day, Tuesdays will see teams hold debriefings on the race and begin to take apart the race car (“tear down”), removing worn or disposable parts while keeping reusable ones.
And soon, the process begins again for the following race.