2022
2022 Texas Graph of the Race
Dr. Diandra presents the 2022 Texas Graph of the Race: The one graph that sums up the most salient feature of this particular race. […]
Texas Motor Speedway
Fantasy Racing
Fantasy Racers Should Want Qualifying Back
Fantasy-racing payoffs hinge on race outcomes. But if you are a fantasy racer — or a serious bettor — you could make money off qualifying. Not by wagering on it, but by using it as a data source. […]
Race Reports
Texas Race Report
A close finish, an underdog winner and tempers that matched the temperature. Here’s your Texas Race Report. I know it’s technically not spring, but it’s the first Texas race of the year. Since most of […]
Aerodynamics
One NASCAR Rules Package for All Tracks?
NASCAR wants to cut costs for teams by developing a rules package that, with minimal tweaking, provides good racing at any track. The 2019 rules package met with mixed results. Races were mostly better at […]
Aerodynamics
Sciencing Out NASCAR Rules Changes
Rules changes in NASCAR are tricky. There’s really no way to test them before implementing them. You’re relying on the judgement and experience of the NASCAR team, with input from race teams, drivers, Goodyear and […]
Aerodynamic Forces
Skirting the Issue
Flared side skirts became an issue when social media started noticing them somewhere around Kansas. The fact that the most obvious example of this was on the 2 car and Brad Keselowski is rapidly taking over from Kyle Busch as most-love-to-hate driver in NASCAR may have brought the issue to the fore faster. […]
Goodyear
The Kansas Monozone Tire
OK, so ‘monozone’ is just a fancy way of saying it’s the old tire. It’s all in the branding, isn’t it? Goodyear has been experimenting with multi-zone tires since last year. Multizone tires attempt to […]
Bristol Motor Speedway
The Reason for Decreasing Cautions
This was the first year that most people noticed a decrease in the number of cautions, but (as I’ve pointed out), 2012 is merely the latest in a six-year trend of decreasing cautions. The same downward trend is evident in the Nationwide Series. This year is perhaps notable for it being so extreme.
The data clearly shows the trend: The question, of course, is why?
math
Why You Can’t Predict Anything Based on the First 10 Races
The plot below shows the cumulative number of cautions per mile since 2007. I’m using number of cautions per100 miles to 1) make up for races that were not run to completion; 2) compensate for […]
Cautions
Are Cautions Really Going Down?
I honestly cannot help it – scientists are naturally skeptical. If you make an assertion, I will have to question you on what data you have that supports it. This is second nature to the people I work with, but I realize it is damned irritating to non-scientists (aka “normal”) people.
So when I started reading everywhere that “cautions were down 35%”, I had to go look into it. This is a preliminary post – more detailed analysis will follow as soon as I’ve read my students’ final projects and gotten comments back to them. […]