math

2024 Laps and Miles: By The Numbers

Building Speed’s 2024 By The Numbers feature starts with a look at the Laps and Miles run in 2024. The big story in that department this year was the weather. Despite Mother Nature dissing stock cars, we managed to get in a surprising portion of the scheduled racing. […]

Cautions
Lead Changes

Counting Lead Changes Through the First ‘x’ Races is Meaningless

The hoo-rah being made over the large number of lead changes in the NASCAR Cup Series through the first 11 races of the 2024 season is artificial. It’s an accident of schedule changes and tire weirdness at Bristol. Counting lead change numbers by themselves doesn’t mean anything unless you consider where the numbers come from. […]

The Phoenix short-track-package testing: Day 1
Aerodynamics

2024 Spring Martinsville Lead Change Preview

The 2024 spring Martinsville lead change preview shows lead-change variations throughout the last three generations of the NASCAR race car. This information provides necessary perspective for understanding this week’s race results. […]

2023

2023 Stats Overview: Penalty Numbers

The 2023 Stats Overview: Penalty Numbers summarizes the overall number and types of penalties incurred in NASCAR’s 2023 season. Teams generated a total of 741 total penalties, but not all were accidental. Last year, I […]

A pie chart showing what days NASCAR races were scheduled on in 2023
2023
A table showing the average finishing positions of elite drivers in the races after their last wins
Drivers
2022

More-Experienced Drivers Fared Worse with the Next Gen Car: Season Rankings

From the start of the 2022 season, veteran NASCAR Cup Series drivers fared worse with the Next Gen car much more than their less-experienced counterparts. Some drivers, like Denny Hamlin, seemed to come to grips with the car in the later portions of the season. Others didn’t. […]

Statistics
2021 penalties incurred by crew shown as a pie chart separating out the different types of penalties
Penalties