What are the rules of stock car racing?

­­

Green means go. Ask any kid riding shotgun or maneuvering his Mario Kart down a televised track. We all know that green signals allow the flow of traffic to continue, and with stock car racing, this is no different. There are red and yellows flags too, much like the colors regular drivers are used to seeing. However, you might not be as familiar with these other stock car racing flags:

­Got it? Good. We're waving the green flag so you can read on to learn about stock car racing requirements.

­

­

Ask a sports fan, and he or she can tell you that a favorite player looks OK just by looking at the driver. However, in NASCAR, teams of inspectors scour every inch of a winning car in open inspections after a race to make sure any adjustments made to that car are legal. In both NASCAR and amateur racing, teams make modifications on everything from windows to rear spoilers and anything in between. And just as many regulations are created by officials to ensure racer safety. These regulations are complicated because they vary by level, series, track, year and even vehicle type.

­Whether it's a Friday night at a local track like the South Sound Speedway, or the Craftsman Cup Series, there are regulations on car bodies, engines, suspension, wheels and tires, and limits can't be shortened or exceeded. At South Sound Speedway in Washington State, for instance, spoiler height is limited to 10" for street stock races, and only 6-1/2" in the "limited late model" category [source: South Sound Speedway]. NASCAR, by comparison, went to a 4-1/4" spoiler in 2005 [source: Home Depot].

A mandate was set in 2007 that all NASCAR Nextel Cup cars essentially be the same except for the engine. The only differences fans now see between team cars are the paint job and maybe a minor body tweak here or there [source: Stewart] As with all regulations, this vast change has been made to ensure safety, but also to cut costs and reduce technological advantages one team might have over another. Now, every chassis and roll cage unit built must go through a NASCAR inspection, where roll cage joints and the driveshaft construction are compared to the new specs. If they're off, they can be fixed, but later on, points can be docked and standings can be altered.

If you're interested in more potential penalties, read on.

­

In early 2008, Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost a spoiler. It didn't blow off-it was confiscated by NASCAR officials for being illegally altered [source: Spencer]. At the same time, officials snatched David Reutimann's carburetor because of an illegal boost that could up his horsepower [source: Jenkins]. From fuel additives to a mid-race release of buckshot to lighten a car, any alteration you can im­agine has a penalty to match, from a simple black flag, to confiscation fines and even suspensions.

­In NASCAR, the ruling body is the National Stock Car Racing Commission. For local races, racers can be penalized with something as simple as the black flag or as severe as being asked to park the offending car, surrender points and sit out for the season. In June 2008, the Commission doled out probations, suspensions and fines of $100,000 to the HAAS CNC Racing team for "improper mounting" techniques [source: NASCAR]. With a plethora of penalties and fines, drivers and crews have to understand many rules.

When points are lost and fines are levied, teams might feel the pinch in the wallet, but the real price comes in the loss of points. And when everyone from the owner to the driver and the crew and car chiefs in between can be penalized, racing really is a family affair [source: Finney].

Specific rules are updated every year in August but it's in section 12-4-A of the rules, the catchall "actions detrimental to the sport of racing" where most infractions occur [sources: Borden, Demmons]. This section has covered just a few of the penalties that can be levied -- with more than 100 pages in the rulebook, there are quite a few more.

For additional information on stock car racing, visit the links on the next page. ­