Let's go to work

How NASCAR returned to racing after lockdown

- LAWRENCE BUTCHER

‘I’m looking at a video of racecar I’m not allowed to touch until I get to the track’ says Cliff Daniels of Hendrick Motorsports, crew chief to JimmieJohnson who drives the no.48 Chevy.

So it was that NASCAR led the motorsport world back to racing after the Covid-19 lockdown. But the way teams must operate in the current environment is very different from how it was when they downed tools in March.

Fortunately, racing is the sort of industry that attracts flexible individuals, and this adaptability has placed NASCAR teams in good stead during the current situation. They have had to handle both social distancing protocols in their race shops and at the track, which has necessarily changed the dynamic between various team members.

In the case of Hendrick’s shop operation, Daniels explains: ‘We split our entire company into two separate teams – a blue team and a red team. The red team works Monday through Wednesday every week, the blue team works Thursday through Saturday, and then red and blue alternate working on Sundays. It has been incredibly challenging, but it has worked out.’

The workload has increased by 200 per cent on a regular season

Daniels believes the Hendrick team is back to around 85-90 per cent of the efficiency it usually runs at, which sounds like a significant achievement, and it is, but all is not quite as rosy as it might seem. Due to the compressed season, NASCAR is now racing twice a week, so the workload has increased by 200 per cent on a regular season.

Increased demand