Chase Elliott

2024 Darlington I Race Report

The 2024 Darlington race report is a great example of how numbers never tell the entire story of a race. We’ve got side-by-side racing but not a lot of official lead changes, and bold moves, some of which worked and some of which didn’t. […]

Timing and Scoring

Photo-Finish Technology

Photo-finish technology has spawned a handful of articles on how NASCAR determined the winner in a 0.001 second margin of victory at Kansas. I thought I understood the technology, but it turns out I hadn’t quite entirely gotten it. […]

Kansas

2024 Kansas I Race Report

Hello and welcome to the 2024 Kansas I Race Report. Things have been going slowly here at BuildingSpeed because of a total re-org of the data system. That meant I had to re-write a ton of programs. Expect this report to grow as more of the plots get re-written. […]

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. […]

Drew Blickensderfer
Blaney, Ryan
Ford Racing
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. […]

Rain Tires
2024 NASCAR Rules