Is there a fuel limit in NASCAR? All rules and facts explained

The NASCAR Cup Series races are one of the lengthiest and prolonged races in the world of Motorsports. Keeping the endurance races aside, a Cup Series race lasts for nearly four hours, and drivers drive for 400 to 600 miles. Such long races need ample fuel for the cars, which brings one to question if there is a fuel limit in NASCAR. In today's article, we'll delve deeper into it.

NASCAR, especially the Cup Series, uses Next Gen cars which can hold 18 gallons of fuel (which is just over 68 litres.) Since this is the limit of the Next Gen Cars' fuel tank, the teams cannot choose to carry more fuel than they intend to.

Interestingly, teams often use less fuel to make the car go faster since less fuel equals less weight, and less weight means more speed. As a result, the teams often choose to use less fuel to ramp up speed.

However, such long races cannot be completed with just 18 gallons of fuel. Therefore, the drivers pit for fuel, and refuel to cover the race. The use of less fuel, refueling, and the calculation to have the optimum fuel efficiency are all done by engineers to help teams and drivers find maximum performance.

A wrongly calculated fuel combination might make or break a driver's race. Fuel more than required might slow the driver, while fuel less than required will halt the driver during the race. Over the years, multiple drivers faced the consequence as their cars stopped on the last lap.

In a nutshell, there is no fuel restriction or fuel limit in NASCAR. It depends on the teams and their fuel-efficient strategies. The better the fuel strategy for a team, the better their chances of winning the race.

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When fuel issue destroyed Denny Hamlin's NASCAR race

During the recently concluded Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin faced a fuel issue which disastrously ended his race. Hamlin, who was one of the contenders for the race win alongside Ross Chastain and William Byron, was left with no option but to refuel near the end of the race.

Denny Hamlin (11) overtakes driver Tyler Reddick (45) during the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

Hamlin reportedly fell short by four gallons of fuel, and as a result, he had to pit on Lap 389 of 400 and finished the race in 16th place. Speaking about this, here's what the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said after the race:

"I feel good about our performance. I feel crappy about how we finished. That's been the story of the last month, and not much has changed." (Via NASCAR.com)

Ross Chastain won the Coca-Cola 600 to register his first win of the season, while William Byron came home in second place. Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger, and Brad Keselowski finished the race in the Top 5.