Chicagoland Speedway

How NASCAR’s “Enhanced Schedule” Affects the Race Teams

NASCAR’s enhanced schedule compresses three days on on-track activity into two. It’s designed to save teams time and money, but how will it affect the racing? What is an “Enhanced Schedule”? If you’re wondering why […]

Childers, Rodney

Jumping the (Air) Gun

(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 […]

Cautions

Early-Season Predictions Require Caution

Predictions: The Peril of the Early-Season Off-Week I can post only when I have something to contribute. The professionals who cover NASCAR don’t have the luxury of waiting until there’s news. The content monster remains perpetually […]

Data Science

Data Sharing: Fact and Fiction

New for 2018: Data Sharing NASCAR announced (in a somewhat roundabout way) they would share the data collected by each car during races, qualifying and practice with all teams in the 2018 season. This produced […]

Drivers

NASCAR’s Youth Movement is Actually Sort of Old

Goin’ Down? 2018 is being hailed as the year of the NASCAR Youth Movement as we bid farewell to older drivers and welcome in a class of youngsters. The average age of  Hendrick’s starting lineup […]

Qualifying Lap Times for Daytona XFINITY Race
Graphs and Charts

2018 XFINITY Daytona Qualifying

A fast one-graph summary of data for the XFINITY qualifying stats. Up to 36th position, qualifying times are roughly linear with a slope of 0.056 seconds per position. 1st to 2nd: 0.083 seconds 1st to […]

Graphs and Charts

How Well Does Daytona Predict A Driver’s Season?

The Meaning of Daytona Ah… the optimism of a new season. Everyone is unbeaten. Everyone is tied for first place. Everyone has a shot at the championship. Then Speedweeks starts. NASCAR doesn’t ease into the […]

A History of Toyota Wins: 2008-2017
Aerodynamics

NASCAR: Did Toyota’s New Car Give them the Advantage in 2017?

Advantage Toyota? NASCAR’s perennial challenge is keeping manufacturers’ cars even so that no one has an unfair advantage. There is no denying that Toyota had a great 2017. Some people would say that’s because Martin […]

Cautions
Air Pollution

NASCAR and Electric Cars, Part II

It’s not quite January, but it’s close enough. The month is named for Greek God Janus, who has two faces: one looks to the past and one that looks to the future. The off-season is a […]