Mental preparation is a popular topic of discussion heading into Sunday’s grueling 600-mile Sprint Cup Series race, although physical preparation is equally as important to the drivers who need to maintain hydration and energy levels inside the car during the sport’s longest race of the season.
So how is that possible? How do you fit in balanced nutrition over the course of a potentially five-hour race at high rates of speed?
These athletes use creativity and quick-handed crew members. They reach for coolers of cold beverages, fruit and energy bars to hand off to their drivers during pit stops, giving an entirely new meaning to fast food.
“The combination of the two really isn’t all that good,” said Johnson, who is handed thirds of segmented protein bars through his driver’s-side window while in the pit box. “I’ll have the chocolate bar or protein bar in my hand and I’m like, nah that’s not going down and I’ll throw it out. I need to find a better combination of food and drink for inside the car.”
Johnson added that he knows some drivers who can eat sandwiches and even some old-school drivers who were known to eat hot dogs.
Not Carl Edwards. He stopped eating inside the car because he said Richard Petty told him it wasn’t safe for reasons unknown. Ryan Newman is a water-only driver, and Matt Kenseth has never eaten during a race.
In seasons past, Kyle Busch used to snack on crackers and candy bars while inside the car.
“If I could get a hamburger to fit in the helmet, I might have that,” he said. “I don’t think I can get it in there.”
“I probably won’t hydrate as much before the race. Because it’s such a long race, you don’t get any opportunity to go to the bathroom. I won’t hydrate at all until I get in the car probably. You’ll actually start the race probably almost dehydrated and then you’ll hydrate through the event just to keep that state so you don’t have to go to the bathroom every hour.”
Inside sweltering stock cars, drivers can lose five to 10 pounds of water weight in one single race.
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