NASCAR Lingo 101

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes in NASCAR if you’re not a fan that 100 percent dedicated or you just don’t know a lot about cars, it’s easy to get lost. The more dedicated NASCAR fans will tend to not have this problem but the more casual NASCAR fan might. Then of course we have the “fans” that watch just a couple of races a year and they have no clue what is going on.

Below you will find a handy guide to some of the most used NASCAR lingo. This might be good to have on hand for those who don’t always know what’s going on or maybe for you even if you don’t want to admit that you need it.

NASCAR Lingo 101:

AERO: Commonly used abbreviation when referring to the all-important science of aerodynamics.
Aero Push: An understeer condition caused when a car pulls closely into another car’s air stream. Taking the air is a term used when the downforce is broken by a car beside or behind a car.
Air Pressure: With the advent of radial tires with stiffer sidewall’s, changing air pressure in the tires is used as another setup tool that is akin to adjusting spring rates in the vehicle’s suspension. An increase in air pressure raises the “spring rate” in the tire itself and changes the vehicle’s handling characteristics. If his race vehicle was “tight” coming off a corner, a driver might request a slight air pressure increase in the right rear tire to “loosen it up.”
Backup Car: A secondary complete and set up stock car brought to NASCAR races by each team, transported and stored in the front half of the upper level of team haulers. Backup cars must pass all NASCAR inspections. The backup car may not be unloaded at any time during all NASCAR national series practice or pre-race competition activities unless the primary car is damaged beyond repair.
Banking: The sloping of a race track, particularly at a curve or corner, from the apron to the outside wall. Degree of banking refers to the height of a track’s slope at its outside edge. Does it have to do with the change in slope of the racing surface between the straightaways and the turns? Of course not! Banking is what those folks who lounge around up in the suites do when they’re not flying off to the Bahamas. And they’ve never seen the end of a single race.
Blowin’ Up: The engine just gave up the ghost. This is normally joined by a giant cloud of smoke created from all the burnin’ oil and fluids gettin’ dumped on the track surface. We also say the engine “let go” or the car “hand grenaded”.
Bump drafting: Technique in which drivers make contact briefly to increase their speed. Sometimes results in inadvertent crashes.
Bump ‘N’ Run – If ya bump a guy in the rear as he enters a corner, he’ll get all loose and slide up the track. That let’s you get under him and pass. Guys like to do this on the last corner comin’ to the finish in order to win. Bump a car too hard though, and you’ll send him spinnin’. That’ll end ya up with a fist meeting yer face after the race.
Camber: Tells how many degrees a tire is slanted in (negative degrees) or outward (positive degrees) as opposed to being perpendicular to the track. A single racecar may usually have both positive and negative cambered tires setup during a race depending on the racetrack.
Chrome Horn: These cars don’t have horns on ’em, so they just use the bumper to let the guy in front know he’s in the way.  He’s using his “chrome horn”.
Cut a Tire: A driver gets a flat tire, and usually wrecks when he does. It’s cuz he “cut a tire”, even if it didn’t actually get cut.
Dirty air: Turbulence created by a lead car that negatively impacts the downforce and handling of a trailing car.
Drafting: Practice of two, or more, cars, while racing, to run nose to tail, almost touching. The lead car, by displacing air in front of it, creates a vacuum between its rear end and the following car’s nose. A term that has been used to describe two or more cars running nose to tail (or tail to nose) on the track, thereby traveling faster than a car running by itself. However, the term actually refers to anyone who breaks into a long line of fans waiting to use the restroom. As in “Dude, my kidneys were about to bust, so I just drafted my way up to the front of the line.”
Gas ‘N’ Go: A quick pit stop for gas only. No other work is done to the car cuz it would take too long.
Green-white-checkered finish: NASCAR’s version of overtime, which allows up to three attempts at two-lap shootout finishes so that races don’t end under caution.
Groove: Slang for the best way around the racetrack. High groove is closest to the wall.
Happy hour: Slang for the final official practice before a race.
Loose: Describes a car’s back end wiggling and losing stability when entering or exiting a corner.
Lucky Dog: TV slang; known by NASCAR as a “free pass” or “beneficiary.” When a yellow flag is waved, the first lapped driver gets a lap back.
Marbles: Pieces of tire rubber that accumulate in the turns of the track, giving the sensation of driving on marbles.
Restrictor plate: An aluminum plate (looks like a four-pronged Lego) that reduces the flow of air to fuel, keeping speeds under control at Sprint Cup’s two superspeedways — Daytona and Talladega.
Round: Not the shape, but an adjustment to the car. During a pit stop, you’ll see a guy shove a wrench in the rear window give it a “round” up or down. This changes how springy the springs are, and changes the way the car drives.
SAFER Barrier: them super smart astronaut types in NASCAR engineerin’ designed a new outer wall that combines the good ol’ concrete with foam spacers that absorb the energy of a wreck and lessens the amount of headache passed on to the driver.
Tight: Used to describe a car that has difficulty turning in the corner, usually requiring the driver to get out of the throttle.
Track bar: A rear bar assembly that can be raised (to loosen the car) or lowered (to tighten) during the race. Pit crews access the track bar through the rear window using an extended ratchet.
Wave around: During a caution, cars at least one lap down can stay out on the track and, provided all lead-lap cars pit, get waved around the pace car before the restart and get one lap back.

Sources: JCS Racing and CBS Local