When I started writing about NASCAR in 2007, drivers usually practiced Friday morning in preparation for that afternoon’s qualifying. Two Saturday practices gave them time to dial in their car for Sunday’s race. […]
The 2023 Nashville Race Report: Lead Changes features three-wide restarts, (mostly) respectful racing up front, and one smashed watermelon. Caution/Lead-O-Gram As usual, we start with the caution- and lead-o-gram for the 2023 Nashville race. This […]
The NASCAR playoffs determine the season’s champion. Is the champion the guy who wins the most races? Or the guy who runs up front the most?
There’s no scientific way to answer this question, but there is data. NASCAR has modified their playoffs to try to create a suitable balance between winning and consistency. Have they succeeded?
(Air) Gun Control A lot’s changed on Pit Road this year. In addition to cutting the over-the-wall crew to five people, NASCAR decided (by majority vote of the Team Owners’ Council) that they would provide air guns […]
I’d Rather Fight Than Switch If you remember what commercial that was from, then congrats. You are — like me — old. It used to be that an owner was loyal to his manufacturer to […]
My friend at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, Dave Kallman (whose online column should be a regular read for race fans) asked about the confiscated firewalls from the Number 11 car at Indy. That reminded me of the first NASCAR race I was supposed to attend as research for my book The Physics of NASCAR. That was California in 2007. I was to follow around the number 19 car, at that time driven by Elliott Sadler and crew chiefed by Josh Browne. […]
A short note on Denny Hamlin’s comments on the Gen-6 car and subsequent fine.
I’ve talked to a lot of the people in the trenches involved in designing and creating the Gen-6 car. That includes people from manufacturers and teams. All of them have said that the development of the Gen-6 car is a major sea change for NASCAR. This is the most collaborative that NASCAR has been with introducing a new car in some time. Manufacturers and teams were consulted and they all feel that their opinions mattered and were taken into consideration. This was a very, very different process than the COT introduction, which was designed by NASCAR and plans delivered to teams. […]
One of the commentators after the final race in Homestead mentioned that Jimmie Johnson should be happy he finished in third because it allows him to avoid the “dreaded second-place curse”.
Anytime someone says something like that, it makes me wonder whether there really is a curse, or whether that person had just been talking to Carl Edwards. So I analyzed a little data and guess what… there really IS a second place curse. […]
The big news for Pocono is that drivers can shift…again. Which brings up the obvious dual questions of: Why would you want to? and Why didn’t you before? […]
Some drivers have stumbled out of their cars and asked reporters for a few moments to hydrate and catch their breath before giving interviews the last few weeks. At Pocono, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt, […]
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