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The Inspection Process

NASCAR Know-How CLICK THE IMAGE TO LAUNCH CLIP The inspection process Start (1.2M .mov) Archives • Click here for past editions of Rusty Wallace's NASCAR Know-How

Sometimes it is called the room of doom. Just getting through technical inspections can be the hardest part of the weekend at certain tracks. But nonetheless it is a process that each team has to go through each weekend.

NASCAR has 23 templates that a car has to fit. These templates are derived from the production models of the car and there isn't much room for error. All templates have to fit within 1/16th of an inch, some don't even have that much leeway. And that's pretty amazing when you consider that all the body pieces on the car start as flat sheet metal.

After your car fits all of the templates it goes onto the scales. The car cannot weigh more than 3,400 pounds overall. Each wheel can weigh differently but the sum cannot be any more than 3,400 pounds.

Once you have passed the weight limits, it's onto the height sticks. Here NASCAR checks the car for overall height as well as the rear deck lid to make sure it's not too high. They also check the front valence and rear spoilers for clearance and height measurements. Once you've passed through all of that, it's finally onto the track.

The whole process takes about 10 minutes and happens three times a weekend --before you get out onto the track, before qualifying, and then before the race. Some times it's not easy but NASCAR wants to make sure that everybody is playing a fair game.