And these are particularly spectacular given how close the drivers follow each other during a race. That means yellow flag periods — where the cars slow down — are key for drivers to utilise and ensure their pitstops are more economical. Weird, right? The idea is that the winner of the championship cannot be decided until the final lap of the final race. More jeopardy and excitement in store for the viewer. The year is divided into the regular season and the playoffs.
Drivers will compete for points to climb the championship standings during the regular season. If you win a race in the regular season, you qualify for the car playoffs.
If less than 16 drivers win a race, the remaining places are filled by the best-scoring drivers. Ten races remain in the playoffs, and the scores are reset.
If you win a race, you are through to the next round, and the other drivers compete for the points on offer. This is repeated until there are just four drivers, and a single race left. Whoever finishes highest up the order in that race is the Cup Series champion.
Chase Elliott is the reigning Cup Series Champion. He held off Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano to the championship. Elliott worked his way up the ranks from the Xfinity series, which he won in , to the Cup Series. With two Cup Series championships to his name in and , he remains a top driver. Kevin Harvick shares the win record with Busch and has an incredible top ten finishes across races.
As you can tell, there is great longevity to the career of a NASCAR driver, and their careers often span multiple decades. Experience the racing live and book now. Will Longman 11 June If a driver raced nonstop at mph for the next 50 years, he would age 70 microseconds less than the rest of us. While NASCAR drivers are moving at incredibly fast speeds compared to the crowds in the stands, their speeds are small compared to what Einstein had in mind — like how fast light can travel, million mph.
The effect of relativity at the track is small, but it does exist. As a car enters a turn, it naturally wants to continue in the direction it was originally going. To change direction to follow the curve of the oval-shaped track, a force must be applied. The necessary force comes from the friction between the tires and the track.
Friction is the connection between the two that prevents them from sliding against one another. Go too quickly and the friction may not be enough to prevent the car from continuing in its original direction and sliding straight into the wall. Slow down too much and you fall behind the competition. The way the track is designed can help out here. The turns are banked, meaning they are higher on the outside of the track and lower toward the center.
Part of the force of the road pushing up on the car — what physicists call the normal force — assists the frictional force of the tires and helps the car make it around the turn. Banking in the turns at some of the fastest race tracks is comparable to the steepness of a playground slide.
Driving is a drag A car driving in a forward direction is slowed down by two forces: 1 The friction of the air in front of the car Anything that moves forward has to push air out of the way. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up!
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