Keeping Track

Scorers are a throwback to an earlier era in NASCAR. When the sport first started, each team designated a person to go to the scorers stand, always near the start/finish line and usually in the infield. The scorer would be responsible for manually marking, or ‘scoring’, their driver each time the car crossed the line. These sheets were used to determine how many laps a driver had actually completed and in a few rare instances established who actually won the race. Today NASCAR uses electronic scoring. Each car has a transponder and as they pass the start/finish line, it registers as a transponder unique to that car. As each car crosses, NASCAR knows who it is and therefore it keeps up with the scoring and where that car is running in relationship to the other 42 cars There are still 43 scorers assigned by the teams for each race. They still report to the scorers stand prior to each race, and most often simply push a button each time their car passes the start/finish line. Their primary role now are as backups to the electronic timing and scoring. NASAR has a Chief Scorer who has the overall responsibility for all the timing and scoring at a race.