Drivers can lessen the amount of drag that they experience on the race track by drafting. You earn points by drafting a team of drivers and they accomplish objectives on the track. NASCAR race cars, in some ways, are sensitive machines. And if you want to change your position in the line of cars, you have to be strategic. ­As air moves faster it creates low-pressure systems. Don't know your drafting from your wedge? Bodine, Brett. The combined effects of drafting mean that a pair of cars driving one behind the other can go as much as five miles per hour (about eight kph) faster than either car driving alone. I understand the basic principle about using the airflow from the car in front of you, but specifically how does it work? Conducted 11/26/2008. Find out why Daytona qualifying is so complex at HowStuffWorks. The basic physics of the draft -- from the two-car draft to draft lines -- can be used by teams to accelerate their drivers or stall the competition by depriving them of reduced pressure drag. But the trailing cars play a role as well. The combined effects of drafting mean that a pair of cars driving one behind the other can go as much as five miles per hour (about eight kph) faster than either car driving alone. And that level of speed is critical. Doesn't that make the back car more of a parasite? How does a NASCAR driver communicate with the pit crew? How does side drafting work? The following driver can also pull a similar tactic, inching up on the car ahead in order to disrupt the flow of air over the lead car's body. Like most other sanctioning bodies, NASCAR will use flags to provide the drivers with information regarding track conditions. Neergaard, Fred. Kurt Romberg, chief aerodynamicist at Hendrick Motorsports, said as little as one percent drop in drag is worth an improvement of about 10 positions on the starting grid at Daytona. To draft, you have to know and trust your car's handling. Pearson used the greater horsepower in his car to make up the distance, then drafted Petty and used a slingshot maneuver to get around him to take the win. Despite the use of restrictor plates, NASCAR drivers often reach speeds of more than 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour). The technique involves the trailing car driving up and actually hitting the lead car's bumper to shoot it ahead while pulling the trailing car behind it. Like most other sanctioning bodies, NASCAR will use flags to provide the drivers with information regarding track conditions. ", While drafting is only one element in a large number of factors that contribute to a successful race, using the draft properly can distinguish the subtle difference between a talented driver and a driver that can only be described as "gifted.". The trailing driver needs to hit the lead car in precisely the right spot and at precisely the right angle. The end result is a car that's harder to pass and harder to draft. Information about the device's operating system, Information about other identifiers assigned to the device, The IP address from which the device accesses a client's website or mobile application, Information about the user's activity on that device, including web pages and mobile apps visited or used, Information about the geographic location of the device when it accesses a website or mobile application. Drafting: The practice of two or more cars, while racing, to run nose-to-tail, almost touching. Earnhardt attempted to "fan" Gordon's tail -- essentially disrupt the downforce off Gordon's car and unstick his wheels by sweeping the nose of his car into Gordon's slipstream. How To Pick Drivers – Drafting Your Team. Add another car behind the trailing car, and the effects get even more pronounced [source: Tierney ]. Qualifying for any NASCAR race is challenging, but Daytona qualifying is especially tough. Conducted 11/26/2008. Here are the NASCAR rules and points scoring guide on DraftKings.com. Retired NASCAR driver Brett Bodine said drafting was one of a number of factors and strategies employed by a driver during any given race. Drafting strategy is where a race becomes a mental challenge as well as a battle of speed and guts. As this happens the nose of the lead car begins to raise a little adding an upforce to the equation. Plates were first used in the 1970s to even the playing field between larger and smaller engines, as well as a safety measure as the tracks became larger and the cars became more powerful. Find a complete list of rules and explanations for scoring for NASCAR fantasy contests. What is it and why is it important? It is more than just how they finish the race, they get points for actions during the race itself. "You'll see a guy at Talladega moving around and you know that whatever line he gets in front of moves faster.". What actually happens in drafting? Personal Interview. At the Daytona 500 in 1999, Jeff Gordon fended off a nose-to-tail challenge from racing legend Dale Earnhardt. The trailing car drafts the lead car, uses the pressure reduction to ease its movement through the air, waits for the right curve, mashes the gas and uses the extra power to slingshot ahead for the race victory. "Three cars will run faster than two, and five cars will run faster than three," he said. This enables both of the cars to go faster than either car could go alone. NASCAR is ridiculous. That’s all part of the plan to reduce drag and increase speed. how does the sling shot work in nascar? We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. ­Romberg, Kurt. As the wind whips around the house the pressure outside of the house is lowered, and the pressure inside the house becomes comparatively higher. It's for this reason that tracks require restrictor plates and other safety measures to limit top speeds. The contests are salary cap based. Both tracks offer banked curves and long straightaways where a driver can push a car to its upper limits. Up next, we'll learn how strategy plays a role in the NASCAR draft. Boone, Jerry F. "Restrictor Plate Racing - Alternatives to Mayhem." Pressure drag has to do with the low pressure created as the air moves around the object. And just like that, one competitor goes down. The object is to score more points than your opponents. Soon the pressure differential is enough for the windows to shatter out from the higher interior pressure. There are essentially two kinds of drag -- friction and pressure. When a car moves forward, it exerts pressure on the air around it, and the air reciprocates with equal pressure on the car. Rules of the track stipulate that … Drivers will often take advantage of this in the last laps by getting close to a lead competitor in exactly the wrong spot and unsticking their tires by manipulating their downforce stream. The same physical forces allowing Johnson to keep up with the competition led to Johns' defeat. ­If you think you've heard it all, well then you'd better get ready for the next page. BQ2: What's your favorite sport to watch besides NASCAR? When we’re riding at 30km/h on a flat road, wind resistance accounts for approximately 80% of the total resistive force. Bodine also said lead drivers often shift from one drafting lane to another as need dictates. Pulling within a car length of a lead car benefits the trailing car by reducing drag. Swimmers -- both open water and pool competitors -- will often swim close to another athlete to take advantage of the slight vacuum and less-dense water created in the wake, and on the sides, of the lead swimmer. By staying close to the lead car the trailing car interrupts that low-pressure system and cuts down on its effects. Personal interview. and it is hard to win without a drafting partner. Stock car racing went from a combination of luck and horsepower to an intensely technological, strategic sport. Guide: 20 NASCAR-related terms you need to know NASCAR Rules – How To Score Points at DraftKings. This technique is common among hypermilers. When we increase our speed to 50km/h, wind resistance increases to a massive 94%. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Copyright © 2021 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings, LLC, a System1 Company. Whatever lane they lead will go just a little faster than the one they just left. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. The back car is so close to the front car that it reduces turbulence for the front car. At superspeedways like Alabama's Talladega and Florida's Daytona International, where speed is limited by a restrictor plate rule, long lines of drafting cars take advantage of the car in front to allow greater speeds and better fuel efficiency. Using the NASCAR strategies above you will find yourself in very good situations when it comes to cash game lineups, but if you are trying to win a large GPP or tournament at DraftKings you will probably want to mix in at least one driver that might not fit the criteria or fade (not roster) one of the drivers that does meet the criteria – but you think everyone will have in their lineups. Drafting reduces aero drag, both on the car following and on the car leading. The thought behind this is that when a car backs out, and then goes forward, it has used twice as much fuel for the same distance. (Dec. 3, 2008)http://www.hypermiling.com/, Mark Martin's Unofficial Home Page. Teams, sometimes official but often an informal collaboration, use the power of drafting to rocket members past the competition, vie for the best track real estate and even steal the race lead at a moment's notice. It begins when the trailing car gets within inches of the front car's rear bumper. In 1960, at the second Daytona 500, Johnson was behind the wheel of an under powered Chevrolet in competition with several dominant Pontiac cars on the track at that time including one driven by Bobby Johns. In fact, a drag reduction of about a half-percent is seen as a significant gain in NASCAR. Remember, that airflow is critical for keeping the lead car's tires stuck to the track surface. The front car creates a low-pressure area -- a draft -- that essentially acts like a vacuum and pulls the back car forward. Romberg works on all their cars. Daytona and Talladega are two superspeedway racing venues where a draft-savvy driver can really shine. Some hypermilers claim they get anywhere from 60 to 80 miles per gallon from a car rated for the high 20s on the highway. The air reacts the same way the boat wake acts. The second car in drafting looks like an appealing thing to hug to air, so it jumps directly from the back of the first car to the second. Use the left and right arrow keys to control your car. The lead driver can step on the brakes, come within inches of the following driver, and deprive them of the air needed to cool the engine. The draft is when downforce and drag, as well as a few other factors, come together on the track. (Jan. 15, 2009) http://www.nascar.com/2004/news/headlines/cup/06/10/rwallace_talladega/index.html. The air behaves as if the two cars are one. Like the old adage "it takes two to tango," drafting can only be accomplished with two or more cars. Make use of the other cars to draft yourself to the front of the twelve-car pack. Hill, Dr. Jerre. what does that all mean? If you're interested in a few drafting success stories, take a look at the next page. I've asked my dad this question before (not that's he's a NASCAR expert or anything), but I don't think he explained it right... BQ: How is NASCAR interesting? Answer Save. Without it, and maybe with a little help in the form of a bump, the lead car can lose traction, skid into an outside lane and quickly drop 10 places (or more) during a race. "You work the numbers as much as you can to affect the end product," Romberg said. ­If you think you can pilot a NASCAR race car around Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway at 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour) with more than 40 of your closest friends and enemies hot on your tail, you'd better think again. Geisler: There’s been a ton of work that’s gone into the two-car draft. How does drafting in racing work? On smaller tracks with fewer straightaways a car is tuned to have even more downforce to keep it stuck to the pavement and handle the turns better. Because of this, capable drafting is often a key to success. That pressure differential, low on top and high on the bottom, creates lift that allows the plane to soar through the air. Friction drag is the contact of air and the object moving through it, like a race car. Hill said the changes have a serious effect on the car's wake characteristics and therefore on the drafting potential of the car. Quite simply, the greater the speed, the greater the drag1. This was the beginning of the technique of drafting. This is why cars often run in drafting packs and lines, each gaining a few more miles per hour from the car in front and behind as pressure drag is reduced. A wing is designed so airflow creates a low-pressure system over the top of the wing and a relative high-pressure system underneath. Drafting is a game of small numbers and risky strategy playing out in a larger drama. This physical law is what allows planes to fly. Johnson discovered during qualifying heats that if he pulled up close to the competition, within a few inches, he could keep pace with the bigger and faster vehicles. NASCAR driver Ryan Newman (12) passes Tony Stewart (20) on the backstretch as he gets drafting help from Kurt Busch (2) on the final lap of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Not quite. Instructions. At the Daytona 500 in Florida this weekend, souped-up cars will chase each other around a … "If you fall out of that line, if you have to go to the pits for a problem, you're probably going to get lapped," Bodine said. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. Stock Car Racing Magazine. How does a NASCAR driver communicate with the pit crew? He said the drag created by the boxy truck designs, as well as less horsepower than Cup Series vehicles, put drafting at the top of the strategy list. Personal interview. This increase makes having a drafting partner at superspeedways critical. This is called drafting. Drafting strategy involves more than simply knowing where to place your car on the track, and it often has less to do with aerodynamics and more to do with driver's knowledge of the competition's mind. The hypermiler is a relatively new breed of driver that seek to push the most miles per gallon they can out of a standard vehicle through techniques like highway coasting, stopping their engine instead of idling at lights and never backing out of a parking spot. But it's not so simple streaking down the track at nosebleed speeds. Official Site of Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Racing. That’s all part of the plan to reduce drag and increase speed. And the greater the drag, the greater the benefi… Actually, the best strategy for saving a few miles per gallon is to properly inflate a car's tires and keep it in peak operating condition; however, some drivers choose a more controversial, and dangerous method. For the car leading, it reduces the turbulence behind the car, which slows the car down, and it reduces the pressure on the nose of the car that is following. Here, engines are allowed to run full power and downforce becomes critical. Both cars can travel faster than either car can go by itself [source: Turner ]. How does a NASCAR track physically change during a race? "When you see that, you have to start planning your moves, take advantage of what's being offered.". Bodine has seen and experienced this phenomenon, firsthand. At superspeedways, downforce is purposely reduced since the track layout requires higher speeds on the straightaways. "You see two cars side-by-side, you know there's a big hole behind them and if you can get in that you can accelerate faster," Bodine said, adding that, in the truck series, the vehicles punch bigger holes in the air, allowing for even more acceleration in the draft position.
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