Stock car racing has grown to become one of the largest spectator sports in America, a fandom that is expanding across the globe. Every year, NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) sanctions more than 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe.
Hendrick Motorsports, one of NASCAR’s most decorated teams, has earned 18 driver’s championships and more than 350 wins across all three major series since the team’s inception in 1984. Hendrick Motorsports boasts some of the most recognizable names in NASCAR history, including Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon—who now serves as Vice Chairman at the company.
In a business where milliseconds matter and information is fuel, high performance, built-for-data-science computing solutions are as necessary as brilliant engineering, gifted drivers, astute crew chiefs, exceptional parts, as well as some good luck. To quickly and reliably process the massive amounts of data needed to extract insights that bring home wins, the team at Hendrick Motorsports relies on the Z by HP lineup of workstations, laptops, and monitors. Matthew Cochran, Director of Information Technology at Hendrick Motorsports, explained, “We are in the business of speed. Horsepower, performance, and reliability make Z by HP the perfect partner for us.”
Driving big data
Before computers, sensors, and massive data sets, races depended on a driver’s split-second decisions. Today, advances in technology mean that data analytics inform everything from car design and driver strategy to how the team supports the car before, during, and after the race. Cochran acknowledged, “Since the introduction of electronic fuel injection, stock car racing has become a data-generating sport. We have a tidal wave of information coming at us every day. The trick is learning how to use it.”
Alba Colon, Director of Competition Systems at Hendrick Motorsports, adjoined, “As machine learning and AI become more important to the sport, we need more powerful compute technology to handle it.”
The number of data inputs Hendrick Motorsports fields on a daily basis is staggering: telemetry, communications, competitive analysis, high-res images, historical data, weather, driver input, testing, aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), NASCAR’s six input channels, simulations, and Hendrick’s own robust database all feed an ever-expanding pool of information.
However, the team must contend with more than just the volume of massive data streams. Those inputs also need to be analyzed incredibly quickly to derive actionable insights in order to apply learnings to the next race, which might be as soon as the next day.
After all, while NASCAR racing might appear fairly straightforward—drive as fast as you can—the reality is much more complicated and nuanced. Scott Lusted, Manager, Aerodynamics Engineering at Hendrick Motorsports, revealed, “Every track is very different. We use data to understand each environment and to make critical decisions for every part of the car. And, we have very tight windows for making those decisions.”
“We do a lot of testing, both in the lab and on the track,” Colon added. “We can’t do it alone. We need amazing partners like HP.”
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