Racing Archives : Building Speed

Are Recent Martinsville Winners More Likely to Win Now?

2026-10-30 dr. diandra 0

A lot of statistical analyses emphasize recent Martinsville winners. Most remind us of Hendrick Motorsports’ 31 wins. But I wonder whether people are over-emphasizing the importance of wins — or even recent wins? Is there any data that supports the idea that winning the last Martinsville race (like Chase Elliott) or the last Fall race (William Byron) gives those drivers higher likelihoods of winning this weekend? […]

An Alternative Metric for Rainy Days

2026-10-10 dr. diandra 0

I’ve said before that an alternative metric is needed because the current one penalizes drivers too severely for one bad race. The fourth rained-out qualifying session in six Chase races brings home the point. Some […]

Can a Champion Come from Outside the Top-Six Seeds?

2026-09-25 dr. diandra 0

Within weeks of NASCAR announcing a re-formulated version of The Chase for 2026, the word around the garage was that the future champion would have to enter The Chase as one of the top six seeds. […]

Pit Road and Persistence Determine Darlington Outcome

2026-09-06 dr. diandra 0

Pit road performance always plays a huge role at Darlington Raceway. Equally important is how well a team can recover from a pit-road glitch. The latter played a huge role in Christopher Bell’s win tonight. […]

Will NASCAR’s New Stage-Break Rule Produce Lots More Green-Flag Laps?

2026-08-27 dr. diandra 0

NASCAR has a new stage-break rule after fan frustration over large numbers of caution laps. One reason for that frustration is because the lengths of cautions are going up. That, in part at least, is because softer tires shed more rubber and necessitate more cleanup. […]

2026 New Hampshire: Practice Prospects

2026-08-23 dr. diandra 0

The 2026 New Hampshire practice prospects come from a single 50-minute practice session where all drivers participated and teams had two sets of tires. […]

Lack of Passing at Indy: It’s Not the Car

2026-07-29 dr. diandra 0

Much talk this week about lack of passing at Indy and whether NASCAR a) should be racing there only with a different car and b) should be racing there at all. Let’s insert some actual data into the discussion. […]

How to Think About The Chase

2026-07-24 dr. diandra 0

With five races left in the regular season, I’m thinking about The Chase a lot. I’m wondering who is going to earn that top seed and the 100 extra points to start The Chase with. Coming in second puts you at a 25-point deficit before you’ve even run a race. […]

Gen-7 Rack-and-Pinion Steering Increases Precision — and Safety Concerns

2026-06-26 dr. diandra 0

I know that rack-and-pinion steering seems an esoteric and niche topic. But Brad Keselowski doesn’t think so. After his crash at Michigan, Christopher Bell might not, either. Safety motivates much of the NASCAR race car’s […]

Does NASCAR’s Qualifying Metric Unfairly Penalize Drivers Who Have One Bad Race?

2026-06-12 dr. diandra 0

Drivers talk about NASCAR’s Qualifying Metric every week, even though they may not mention it by name. One might note he’s at a disadvantage this week because he was knocked out of last week’s race early. Another may be thankful he is (this week, at least) in the second practice/qualifying group. Drivers may even mention ‘the metric.’ […]