CONCORD, N.C. -- It’s official. The haulers have left the building and it’s time to go racing. With the anticipation rising to start the 2016 season, the Hendrick Motorsports race shops have spent countless hours preparing to take on the 2.5-mile tri-oval superspeedway. Check out these key facts on how our shops prepare for the season-opening trip to Daytona International Speedway.
1) Hendrick Motorsports sends more than 120 team members to the Sprint Unlimited and more than 150 travel to the track for the Daytona 500.
2) The shops typically start to prepare for Daytona the Monday after the previous October’s Talladega Superspeedway race.
3) Each shop produces roughly seven cars total to travel to Daytona. That includes the Sprint Unlimited and Daytona 500 car and additional backup cars.
4) It is virtually an all-day process to load the haulers with the cars, tool boxes, extra car parts, satellite TVs and all other crucial components – including, of course, food.
5) All four haulers get new carpeting specifically for Daytona.
6) The 80,000-pound haulers typically leave the shop two to three days before the Sprint Unlimited.
7) The haulers average approximately 984 miles from Hendrick Motorsports to Daytona International Speedway round-trip. Holding 240 gallons of fuel, they can travel 1,440 miles on a full tank of gas.
8) The Daytona 500 cars get a clear coat over decals to make them as slick as they can be to gain speed on the superspeedway.
9) The engine shop will deliver 80 engines for Daytona alone. Those engines are provided for teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
10) For the season-opening trip to Daytona, the primary haulers carry the Sprint Unlimited and Daytona 500 cars. That makes it unique, as typically the haulers don’t carry two primaries – just one primary and one backup. In this case, a backup hauler also makes the trek to Daytona carrying to the teams’ backup cars.