NASCAR Car Rules

NASCAR is the largest and most well-known auto-racing organization in the world. NASCAR hosts a number of "stock car" races, meaning that the cars must all fit the same criteria dictated by NASCAR rules and regulations. The logic is that the driver should win the race because of skill and not because of a superior vehicle, so all vehicles are meant to be the same design. A number of rules are in place to accomplish this.

  1. Carburetors

    • NASCAR vehicles are not permitted to use a fuel injection system and must instead use traditional carburetors in their engines. Modern commercial vehicles use fuel injectors that are controlled by computer to maximize fuel efficiency and engine performance but computer systems are much more difficult to regulate, so NASCAR requires the older carbureted systems be used in all racing vehicles. Carburetors can also give an engine more power, which is useful on the racetrack.

    Three-Piece Match

    • If a car company creates a NASCAR vehicle based off of a street model, like Ford has done in the past with the Taurus, three pieces of the car must be identical between the street version and the NASCAR model. NASCAR requires the hood, the roof and the trunk top be the same design on the race car as on the consumer vehicle. Since most of the other car components must be modified to suit NASCAR specifications, this guarantees at least some similarity between a street model and its NASCAR counterpart and prevents car companies from producing NASCAR model cars based off of consumer models in name only.

    Dimensions

    • All NASCAR vehicles must have the same size and dimensions. These standards have been altered over the years to improve performance and to allow more safety features for the driver in the event of a collision. The "Car of Tomorrow" design that is used in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series is 206 inches long, 78.5 inches wide and 53 inches high. It weighs 3,450 lbs. These dimensions were adopted after the crash death of driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. and they added 4 inches of width and about 2 inches of height to the recent design. The gas tank was reduced from 22 gallons to 17.5 gallons.