Technology expected to improve NASCAR inspections this season

NASCAR inspection station

Up until last September, the only way for NASCAR officials to tell how quickly the inspection process was moving was to walk to each inspection station and see for themselves. No more. As in so many areas of life these days, there's an app for that. At the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR unveiled a technology that lets officials see whether inspection is running on schedule thanks to a real-time app created by Microsoft. Using a tablet device in the NASCAR hauler office, Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck can monitor each inspection station, see which cars have been tagged for infractions and track the individual progress for each car.

For example: With a couple of taps on the screen, Buck can learn that 48% of the cars have completed inspection and there have been five infractions (a fender or a side skirt that isn't quite within the tolerances, for example). If he wants to get more information, he can click on the number to see which cars have run afoul of the rules and why.

"I can see the time-management portion of all the different stations," he said. "It'll be like, 'We're starting to back up here, what's going on? I need to start checking with that station and find out what the issue is.' Then I can look at the issue, and I make a decision whether I need to go intervene and go support my staff at that station and find a solution to it." Keeping track of the time is important, because NASCAR calculates down to the second how much time should be allotted for the inspection process, Buck said. Fans often only hear about inspection when a car hasn't gotten through as the clock ticks down to qualifying or the race.

In past years, NASCAR would allow a team with an infraction to fix its issue and then get back in line, cutting in front of teams that hadn't been given a chance to go through even once. That allowed crew chiefs to do the minimum when it came to trying to fix infractions; if the adjustment didn't get them within the tolerances, they could just try again. But starting last year NASCAR decided a car with an infraction would have to wait until everyone got through. That change, along with the app, has helped NASCAR speed up the entire process.

In addition to time management, NASCAR is gaining access to more information. Inspectors at the individual stations mark infractions with comments and digital photos. That goes into a database, including how the problem was fixed, and officials can use it to spot trends. Before the app, officials had to search through paperwork and handwritten forms to search for trends. That's important, because rule changes can be based on what direction the garage is going. USA Today