grip
Grip: How NASCAR Decides If There’s Enough
Without grip — aka ‘friction’ — there is no racing. But how do you know how much grip a racetrack has? The primary tool for tuning racing grip is the tire. Goodyear produces different tire […]
blog
Bristol Motor Speedway
How Power Steering Affects Lap Times
Brad Keselowski lost his power steering early in Stage 3 of the fall Bristol race. I wondered if we could quantify how much power steering affects lap times. Turns out we can. Below is a […]
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol Driver Stats: Fall
Every race in the playoffs is critical, but the elimination races, like this week’s Bristol race, are even more critical. How do drivers do in the fall races at Bristol? Here’s your Bristol Driver Stats. […]
Safety
How NASCAR Drivers Keep Cool
It’s critical for NASCAR drivers to keep their cool — mentally and physically. That’s not easy when the interior of the car can easily reach 120ºF to 130ºF. So how do NASCAR drivers keep their […]
Practice
Which Drivers Improve their Finishing Positions in Doubleheaders?
How has eliminating practices affected finishing positions in NASCAR races? Unfortunately, we can’t create a parallel, COVID-free universe as a control system to answer the question. However, COVID has forced NASCAR to run four weekends […]
Qualifying
Why NASCAR Quarantine Qualifying Had To Change
My return to the unique problems posed by quarantine qualifying is in part because Clint Bowyer tweeted that the pseudo-random draw was really messing him up and it wasn’t fair. I wanted to know if […]
Safety
Is Stockcar Racing the Safest Form of Motorsports?
None of NASCAR’s three national series have had a driver die in an on-track incident since the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. And that’s despite some pretty spectacular accidents. We all wondered if we […]
Qualifying
Does NASCAR Need Qualifying?
I’ve made the argument that NASCAR needs at least a little practice. But what about qualifying? Does it have a place in post-pandemic NASCAR? The Problem Racing with the coronavirus forced NASCAR to cancel everything […]
Graph of the Day
Indy Proved It: NASCAR Needs Practices
The coronavirus forced NASCAR to eliminate qualifying and practices. Some people think that should become a permanent change. Indianapolis showed why it shouldn’t. I mean, who expected The Big One to happen on Pit Road? […]
Lead
Ballast: Tungsten vs. Lead
NASCAR penalized a couple of teams recently for dropping tungsten ballast on the racetrack. Let’s revisit why those chunks of tungsten are there in the first place. Ballast is weight added to a racecar to […]