CONCORD N.C.— At Hendrick Motorsports, the race shops are kept busy throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
One crucial part of the extensive process to get the Chevrolets ready to race is the trip to the paint booth.
With that in mind, we got the behind-the-scenes scoop on how the cars are painted and primed for race weekends.
1) The Nos. 5 and 24 and Nos. 48 and 88 race shops have three Blowtherm paint booths -- one is a double-prep station for body work and sanding and two booths are for painting parts and cars.
2) To begin the process, auto body technicians prep and paint the chassis and inner sheet metal light gray. Next, they sand and smooth seams on the body of the car using 3M products and make a final fit to the NASCAR templates. Then, they add primer on all the body work and block sand it smooth to prepare for the paint. After another round of sanding and cleaning, the technicians tape the car to prevent overspray. Then they finally paint the car body with Axalta products – first spraying a primer sealer to enhance color adhesion before spraying and masking the appropriate colors and design base coats. Lastly, if a clear coat is necessary, it is added and finally, left to set overnight.
3) Typically the car is painted by the end of the work day and cured at manufacturer’s recommendations. Then the team members will untape, clean and begin assembly the following morning.
4) Safety first! Auto body technicians wear gloves, respirators, fresh air system helmets and a paint suit. Meanwhile, it gets hot! The outside temperature in the spray booths can reach as high as 95 degrees.
5) There is no air conditioning in the paint booths. Paint likes heat and the higher the temperature, the faster the paint can dry.
6) In both Hendrick Motorsports race shops, there are a total of 11 auto body technicians.
7) Throughout the sanding process, auto body technicians use a vacuum system to capture the copious amount of dust collected in the booths.
8) On average, the shops paint three cars a week.