AVONDALE, Ariz. — Even if you’ve never been to a NASCAR race, you probably have a sense of what you’ll see and hear, but so much happens on race days that even die-hard fans might not know about. 

THE SIGHTS

However bright or vibrant the paint schemes look on TV, they’re about twice as vibrant in person. The biggest examples are Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford and Joe Gibbs’s No. 19 Racing Toyota. The Menards and Bass Pro Shops paint schemes are nearly blindingly neon, and the TV cameras around the track simply don’t do the cars justice. 

The sense of speed at the track is simply unmatched. Even at a racetrack like Phoenix Raceway, which is on the smaller side of tracks on the Cup Series schedule, the cars look like they’re going faster than they appear on TV.

Speaking of the cars, they themselves are shockingly small. NASCAR lists the Next Gen car at just above four feet in height, and that is very apparent as you get closer. Since they sit so low to the ground, they look much smaller than the average sedan on the road today.

On race day, you’ll see pit boxes lined all the way up and down pit road, and they house things most people who haven’t been to a race would have no idea existed.

The boxes have various screens for the crew members to get data, and toward the bottom where the pit crews are, every pit box has at least one TV.

Behind the boxes, crew members have a work area and the most important thing they do is check the tires for wear. Pit crew members use a blowtorch and a scraping tool to melt off excess rubber and check tire wear during runs.

When crew members aren’t servicing the race car, they’re either hanging out under the pit box or eating. There are buckets in each box filled with Uncrustables and assorted fruits for the crew members to eat during their downtime.

THE SOUNDS

Yes, the racecars are loud – really loud. They shake everything around them, and on restarts you can literally feel how strong the cars are. There’s a constant rumble all around the racetrack when the cars are running laps. 

One sound that has left the sport was the iconic whirring of the pit guns during pit stops. With the introduction of the Next Gen Car in 2022, NASCAR changed how the wheels are secured to the car. The teams switched from the traditional six-lug-nut wheel to a single-lug-nut wheel lock. 

While you can still hear the pit guns when cars come in for service, they sound toned down and don’t last as long since they tighten only one lug nut instead of six.

Even with the noise of the racecars and other things on pit road, you can still hear the crowd. When something interesting happens in the race, or the race is coming to an end, you can still hear the roar of the crowd over the engines, though it isn’t as loud as the engines.

The fans also get to listen to the radio broadcast of the race as it’s happening. The speakers around the racetrack play the radio broadcast so fans can follow along, and they can still hear it over the sound of the cars.

THE SMELLS

There are a surprising number of smells at a NASCAR race.

For starters, during a race, the entire track smells strongly of racing fuel. The smell is similar to gasoline, just a lot stronger, and it is a smell that lasts. You’ll likely go home from a race with your clothes smelling like you just pumped gas. 

Another smell is the burnt rubber all over the racetrack. You would think the cars are too far away to smell the small pieces of rubber burnt off the tires, but you can smell them for the entire race. The smell really intensifies during a restart or when a car wrecks, causing drivers to slam on the brakes and skid. 

The last smell is the cars themselves. It is hard to describe, but they smell similar to the fuel, rubber and the strongest-smelling firework you’ve ever smelled.

Right after a race, the teams look under the hoods of the race cars to evaluate how the engines performed. The smell of heat, burnt material and fuel fills the air. It is not a very pleasant smell.

Things like the speed and sound of the cars are to be expected, but there are so many things that happen at a NASCAR race you can only experience by going to the racetrack and seeing them for yourself.