What Cars Are Used in NASCAR? How Fast Do They Go? How Much Does a Car Weigh?

Ever wondered what cars NASCAR uses in its races? Surely, they must be different from the usual road cars. So let’s take a look at the cars that are found in all three national levels of NASCAR racing.

What cars are used?

The Next Gen car uses a fuel-injected V8 engine that can produce 670 horsepower for most races. However, in certain tracks like Daytona and Talladega, the horsepower limit has been reduced to restrict the speed. The cars that are currently used in the Cup Series are the Chevrolet Camaro, the Ford Mustang, and the Toyota Camry. Unsurprisingly, the Toyota Camry that Denny Hamlin drives is miles apart from what one would find at an automobile showroom.

In the Xfinity Series, the cars that are used by the teams are the Chevrolet Camaro, the Ford Mustang, and the Toyota Supra. Unlike the Cup cars, which have a single center-locking lug nut, the Xfinity cars have five lug nuts.

Moving over to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the horsepower for the trucks is about 450. The cars that NASCAR uses in the truck series are the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-150, and the Toyota Tundra.

How fast do these cars go?

On average, the cars can hit a speed of 200 miles per hour. But the speed is somewhat restricted in restricted plate tracks like Daytona and Talladega. These incredibly high-paced cars can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in about three seconds. The fastest a stock car has ever run was back in 1987 when the legendary Bill Elliott (Chase Elliot’s father) registered a speed of 212.8 miles per hour in his number 9 Coord Ford Thunderbird during the qualifying laps for the Winston 500 at Talladega.

How much do these cars weigh?

NASCAR has strict standards that every team needs to follow before they can run their cars in any race. Every car is weighed before the race to ensure that they abide by the regulations. The minimum weight for a NASCAR car is 3,300 pounds or 1496 kilograms, excluding the driver, parts, and fuel.