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Not twins: Busch vs. Winston Cup cars
Unlike most of today's NASCAR Winston Cup drivers, I didn't get my start in the NASCAR Busch Series. But I've still driven my fair share of Busch races. The differences between a Winston Cup car and a Busch car aren't really noticeable if you're in the stands or watching on TV. But up close, they're pretty significant. The first difference is the length of the wheel base -- which is simply the distance between the front and the back wheels. Busch series cars have a wheel base of 105 inches while the wheel base of a Winston Cup car is five inches longer. One of the first things that you notice as a driver is the weight difference. A Busch Series car can weight 100 pounds less than a Winston Cup car. That may not sound like much when you're talking about cars that weigh more than a ton-and-a-half, but that's a huge change. So now you're saying, these cars are shorter and lighter. So why don't they go faster? The answer is in the biggest difference of all, the carburetor, which controls the air and fuel mix. The Busch Series runs a more restrictive carburetor than Winston Cup. While engines in both series have eight cylinders, the Busch carb restricts air and gas flow a little more than a Winston Cup unit. That's why the smaller and lighter Busch Series cars are just a bit slower than the Winston Cup cars.
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