The engines used in NASCAR are marvels of engineering to say the very least. Drivers speed around race tracks at paces of more than 200 miles per hour for hours without end and the engines still hold. Such strain and reliant performance don’t go hand in hand without shelling out big checks. Read on to learn about the history of engines in NASCAR, their costs, and their eventual fates.
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In the earliest days of NASCAR, only slight modifications were made to the engines that were purchased from the dealership. The sanctioning body did not have a lot of rules as long as the engine was a stock block. In the 1970s, however, it brought sizing rules to keep the competition fair and stop teams from installing bigger engines. By the 1980s, 600 HP to 650 HP became the norm.
In 1987, drivers set qualifying speeds over 210 miles per hour in Daytona and Talladega. A crash involving Bobby Allison led NASCAR to decide that they had no business racing that fast. They introduced restrictor plates for superspeedways. These plates would restrict the airflow to the engines and keep the maximum speed attainable low. The horsepower kept increasing till 2014.
Carburetors were replaced by electronic fuel injection systems and car engines reached up to 900 HP. Tapered spacers were soon introduced and they did the job of the restrictor plate with greater efficiency. In 2019, the HP was brought down to 550 and the cars became significantly slower. The main motive behind this was to bring parity and lower engine costs.
Engines today cost anywhere between $250,000 and $300,000. They make 670 HP at a majority of the tracks and have several rules that manage their use. Half of the engines in a season will be used once and the other half will be used twice. Teams get to choose when they use the second set for the second time. However, all the engines will have to be sealed after their first use.
Joe Gibbs Racing explained this in a team video, “About half of our engines will be used twice and the other half will be used only for one race. An engine can survive for about two races but we prefer to stick to one. Before their second use engines get some basic maintenance done. We are restricted on what can and cannot be replaced.”
While running costs are low, this move has increased the frequency of engine-related failures and penalties. After their life cycle is complete, the engines get sent to the scrapyard to be recycled. Seldom do these core pieces of the NASCAR car go to waste.
