However, the tradeoff, again, is that more downforce equals more aerodynamic drag, so teams attempt, particularly on qualifying runs, to lay the spoiler at as low an angle as possible to "free up" their vehicles for more straightaway speed. With Auto Club Speedway off the schedule in 2024, it would mean the only time Cup raced in the Los Angeles area would be at the Los . This article is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge. And with that, Will Porter and Jacob Simpson come to break them down point by point. The Daytona 500 runs in three stages where drivers in the lead can earn points. 2023 www.news-journalonline.com. The 10 playoff races are divided into four rounds, and the first three rounds each have three races with the last one being an elimination race. Mark Hughes is a Grand Prix writer for Autosport magazine. Hauler: The long-haul trailer that stores and transports the NASCAR race cars and team equipment from the race shop to the race track. Also known as space. Over the course of a race, a team will have several opportunities to make adjustments to their car. "NASCAR officials called the race with five laps remaining in the scheduled 113-lap race at the 2.66-mile speedway due to poor visibility. Sometimes this can mean a yellow and a checker, but typically if theres a wreck on the final lap thats not towards the front of the field well before the finish line, theyll keep the race green for the leaders to battle it out (as we saw this Monday at Talladega). Many times the first round sees several minutes when teams sit on pit road waiting to make a qualifying attempt, due to a particular track surface or even the weather. The small paved area around the bottom of the track. During a pit stop, a long wrench is inserted into one of two holes in the rear windshield depending on the type of adjustment being made. 0. Teams may not make any repairs or changes to their cars during a red flag condition. New fans to racing might be asking: Wait, what are stages in NASCAR? You will hear announcers and drivers talking about their car being loose or tight throughout a race, sometimes with regards to one driver fighting both issues at the same time. The track bar runs underneath the rear of the car and can be raised or lowered to shift weight distribution from one side of the car to the other, and can change how it handles to either tighten or loosen up the car. What is NASCAR meaning in Joke? what does off mean in nascar? When it comes to building the puzzles of MLB, NFL, NBA, PGA or Soccer DFS you have a puzzle that ends up with the same picture each slate. Aerodynamic drag: A number that is a coefficient of several factors that indicates how well a race vehicle will travel through the air and how much resistance it offers. Rounds Noun. A resisting force exerted on a car parallel to its air A two-tire stop balances the advantages of having new tires with the speed of not wasting time changing the other two tires. Banking Adjective. This is most often done at the end of a race where a team wants to minimize the time they spend on pit road (and the resulting positions lost on the track). It is accentuated by a vertical spoiler at the back of a car that re-directs air that originally ran horizontally over the trunk of the car. Dont bring any glass containers into the grandstands. The different cars each have their own effect on the air, and the various currents result in a racecar that is more difficult to handle. Here's everything we know, The paths of KD and Kyrie: How one month changed three franchises and two superstar legacies. In the previous decade, there was plenty of chatter about bringing more action to NASCAR racing, since many (most?) Bump-drafting is an aggressive form of drafting where the car behind will literally bump into the car in front at nearly 200 miles per hour. Silly season: Slang for the period that begins during the latter part of the current season, wherein some teams announce driver, crew and/or sponsor changes, and the attendant gossip that follows these changes. The more downforce, the more grip the car has. 26. A driver with a tight race car will have to turn the wheel further and harder to get the car to turn left. Therefore, downforce on the front of the trailing vehicle(s) is decreased and it does not turn in the corners as well, resulting in an "aero push." In NASCAR, an orange V with a box between its lines is painted on the track and drivers must pick a lane before they cross it. Green means go, so when a driver sees this flag, they slam on the gas pedal and take off. He retired from full-time racing in 2017 with 26 Cup series wins, and 24 Xfinity series wins. Since most NASCAR tracks are ovals, the racing groove is the fastest and most efficient route around the track. Downforce: A combination of aerodynamic and centrifugal force on each tire. It was added in 2004 to help ensure a race doesnt end under caution. Without them, speeds could reach more that 210 mph and create a dangerous situation. Lapped traffic: Cars that have completed at least one full lap less than the race leader. Bump Drafting Verb. The inside line represents the shortest way around a track but requires the car to turn in a shorter distance which can reduce speed. Going to a NASCAR race is a lot of fun, but if you havent been to a race before, heres a handy list of what to bring with you and what to leave at home: Do bring binoculars to a race, no matter where youre sitting. Draft, The Noun. 2. The final round is the season finale and the . Flat Out Adjective. White flag: This flag means that the race leader has one lap to go in the race. 1. races have long periods without enough action to placate the modern attention span. And if you're heading to a NASCAR race, know what items to take (and not to take) so your day at the track is fun and safe. A corner with a small amount of banking will require the cars to slow down in order to turn effectively. When drivers see a yellow flag, they know they must slow down to line up behind the pace car and drive cautiously around the track until the track has been cleared. The pit crew is managed by the team's crew chief. Similarly, what does it mean to lift in Nascar?Lift is the aerodynamic force perpendicular to the direction of the body in motion. Thats all part of the plan to reduce drag and increase speed. Races get only one chance for a greenwhitecheckered finish. In NASCAR, the flag waves when the race reaches its pre-scheduled distance (e.g., 500 laps) or is declared over; in some other forms of racing it is waved when the race reaches its pre-scheduled time (e.g., 24 hours of LeMans). Sports, Sports, Car. The first two stages each award points to the drivers in the top 10, making them valuable to the race for the playoffs, and reward drivers for running up front, even if they have issues or wreck later on in the race. It also permits the rear car to transfer energy forward by bumping the lead car or to build momentum . A stop on pit road where the team replaces all four tires on the car with new tires. Wedge: Wedge is the amount of downforce that is applied diagonally from the left rear to the right front to help either tighten or loosen the car. NASCAR races are loud, with decibel levels that can rival the roar of an airplane engine. Black Flagged Verb. Inside Line, The Noun. However, teams can request specific numbers and NASCAR will work with teams or sponsors to help them get the numbers they are interested in. At faster speedways teams strive to get the lowest drag number possible for higher straightaway speeds. Push: Also called "tight" or "understeer," push is when the rear of the car has more grip than the front, which can cause the front end to slide or "push" toward the wall in the corners. This is a private company by Bill France . Looking for online definition of NASCAR or what NASCAR stands for? Sticker Tires Noun. As an additional bonus, and to add potential fireworks to the top of the field, the winner of each stage earns a point he takes with him to the playoffs, assuming he makes the postseason roster. Lucky Dog: During NASCAR races, the Lucky Dog is the first car that is one lap down from the leader(s). NASCAR is in the midst of a change, as Bubba Wallace, the series lone Black driver, speaks out on the Black Lives Matter movement and successfully pushed NASCAR to ban Confederate flags from events. See a slideshow of the biggest penalties at FoxSports. The cars are tested extensively in wind tunnels by the teams and as a result, are designed to run best under these circumstances. Loose: Cars get loose when the front of the car has more grip than the rear and the rear tires have trouble sticking in the corners. Again, thats extra bad. Drafting is also done by side-drafting, which is when cars get real close to each other when running side-by-side, this is done to manipulate the air flow on the side of a car and push more air onto the other cars spoiler, slowing it down. stream and opposite in direction to its motion. Garage: The area on the infield of the racetrack where the race cars are parked and worked on by the teams. Pole position: Also referred to as "the pole." Crewmen work to get the best "drag horsepower" rating they can, determining how much horsepower it will take to move a vehicle through the air at a certain mile-per-hour rate. It can also be used if a driver is deemed to have committed a rules infraction while on the track. Used to describe a large group of cars running together, enabling the entire group of cars to go faster than they might otherwise be able to go. While it is true that the driver must get out of the throttle until the car catches so he can turn it to avoid hitting the wall, he also must get out of the throttle in a loose car to avoid the same fate. While that can be a good strategy for track position, if its done with too many laps left in a race, the worn left side tires will cause them to lose a bit of speed and the cars that take four tires will be at an advantage. It features souped-up pickup trucks with engines that produce about 750 horsepower. If you're a newcomer to NASCAR, learning some basics like the differences between the NASCAR . ","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10080"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/281571"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"
","rightAd":""},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":175750,"title":"The NASCAR Main Series","slug":"the-nascar-main-series","categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/175750"}},{"articleId":175767,"title":"What the NASCAR Race Flags Mean","slug":"what-the-nascar-race-flags-mean","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/175767"}},{"articleId":175766,"title":"What to Pack for a NASCAR Race","slug":"what-to-pack-for-a-nascar-race","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/175766"}}],"content":[{"title":"The NASCAR main series","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"NASCAR has many different racing series, featuring drivers from all over and with various levels of talent competing in a set number of events and following rules by the sanctioning body. Generally located along the front straightaway, but because of space limitations, some racetracks sport pit roads on the front and back straightaways. This is done to create multiple grooves on a racetrack and to encourage passing. Drafting in racing is an aerodynamic technique in which two cars align closely together, reducing the overall drag by making use of the lead car's slipstream. ","blurb":"","authors":[],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34002,"title":"Auto Racing","slug":"auto-racing","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34002"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":291911,"title":"Get Up to Speed on Formula One Racing","slug":"get-up-to-speed-on-formula-one-racing","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/291911"}},{"articleId":201586,"title":"Formula One Racing: What Happens during an F1 Pit Stop","slug":"formula-one-racing-what-happens-during-an-f1-pit-stop","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/201586"}},{"articleId":200975,"title":"Meeting the NASCAR Team","slug":"meeting-the-nascar-team","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200975"}},{"articleId":200756,"title":"A Week in the Life of a Formula One Driver","slug":"a-week-in-the-life-of-a-formula-one-driver","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200756"}},{"articleId":200463,"title":"Discovering What Makes Formula One, Formula One","slug":"discovering-what-makes-formula-one-formula-one","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200463"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":true,"relatedBook":{"bookId":281571,"slug":"formula-one-racing-for-dummies","isbn":"9780764570155","categoryList":["home-auto-hobbies","sports-recreation","auto-racing"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764570153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0764570153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/0764570153-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764570153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0764570153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://catalogimages.wiley.com/images/db/jimages/9780764570155.jpg","width":250,"height":350},"title":"Formula One Racing For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"\n
Jonathan Noble is Grand Prix Editor for Autosport magazine, the world’s foremost motor sport publication.