In sports like the MMA or WWE, weigh-ins are a must. One would surely not expect to watch a 175-pound fighter face off a 240-pound guy. However, in NASCAR, weigh-ins are probably not necessary. Or perhaps that is what you might have thought was the case. Surprisingly, the NASCAR cars need to make a certain weight, excluding the extra ballast, to be eligible to compete in a race. However, the current nature of the driver weigh-in for cars doesn’t resonate well with Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe.
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The way the system is now, it is hard to make weight. The drivers are weighed just in their underwear, thus there isn’t a lot for them to do other than to drink water. “But in the past, you could do whatever,” recalled the Ford pilot. “I remember one year I weighed around 185 or 188 pounds, but I weighed in at 209. I had lead tape bolted to the bottom of my feet. I had all this stuff in my pockets, like lead spacers.”
“Literally, it was stupid. I could barely walk. I had a jacket on because it was super cold and my T-shirt underneath my sweatshirt, (the team) soaked it in water. It was crazy how much weight I was able to add on,” he added while talking to The Athletic.
So what is the way out? Briscoe said that the weighing should be random, like a surprise drug test. “Maybe you get everybody’s weight at the beginning of the year, where there are still going to be some games played there,” said the #14 speedster. “But then you do like randoms in the first five weeks, and just check them to see if they’re close.”
How can a driver maintain their weight before a race?
It doesn’t need someone to be a driver to tell how hot and humid it can be inside a stock car. To avoid getting dehydrated, drivers need to follow strict hydration protocols and sometimes even carry sodium pills with them to maintain salt levels in their blood. They also need to undertake a protein-rich diet to ensure optimum performance on the track. The drivers are advised to eat five smaller meals instead of the standard three meals a day. They can also snack on foods like almonds. Just before the race, drivers often consume complex and fast-digesting carbohydrates like oatmeal and bananas.
“It’s a huge advantage (to have more weight),” explained Briscoe. “They take every 10 pounds, and car and driver (together) have to weigh whatever it is, right? So if I weigh 190 and somebody weighs 170, my car has to have 20 less pounds than their car.” \
The drivers also need to keep their weight in check throughout the entire season and adjust their workout regimens accordingly. While it doesn’t require them to grow abs, the goal is to reduce fat and build lean muscle.
