All the bodies look about the same - unless you read the Manufacturer emblem on the grill you wouldn't know what kind of car it was. Wish they would go back to actually racing stock body cars in stock car racing.
This will never happen as we have become a front wheel drive, 4 door, V-6 world. When they (NASCAR) let Ford run the Taurus as a 2 door when all they made was a 4 door. This was the end of "stock cars".....
Although they must stick to guidlines, the engines differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.
The Xfinity bodies are now measured with a laser and have to be shipped to the NASCAR facility for measuring and approval before the season even begins. Then they can be re-measured at every race to the same approved specs from preseason. Bodies are standardized to make all the aero factors equal but the engines are unique to the manufacturer. That being said they are all pretty much the same parts wise. Just housed in a different sweater... Everybody runs the same tire. The same transmission. The same rear end. The same clutch. The same gauges. The same shocks. The same brakes. They even have to run the same contingency decals as specified by NASCAR. Only the numbers and the sponsor decals are unique to the team. NASCAR issues shocks to every team at the track. They can only have roller tires to transport the cars. They have to buy tires at the track for every race. Now NASCAR is issuing air guns, regulators and hoses.
These "race cars" are so screwed up suspension wise that you could not drive one off the race track onto the highway. They run positive caster on the right side and negative caster on the left side. This make the car constantly turn right. So to go down the straight away you have to steer right. They don't use the suspension for anything other than to get the car through tec. The springs have ridiculous rates of 2 to 4 thousand pounds per inch of compression. And then they have a "pigtail" that fits into a rocker seat so that the car is held up by the pigtail and as the suspension compresses at speed the spring seat rolls over and the car sits solid on the suspension stops. This is how they can run the splitter and the side skirts right on the track and not suffer from any damage as the suspension moves because it doesn't move...
And these Pigtail springs cost several hundred dollars a piece. And they might have 30 or 40 sets...
This is no longer a "sport". It has become a "cubic dollar" event.
I quit watching a long time ago unless it was a road race and that has become boring too...
It is amazing what you see and what you learn when you go to a NASCAR team shop. We spent a day at Hendrick's facility and that was definitely a "Mines bigger than yours" experience. They have CNC machines running 24 - 7 fabbing every part of the race car in house. The machine their own pistons from billet. Their own dry sump oil pans and valve covers from billet. The make their own spindles all from a solid block that weighs about 100 pounds and ends up about 8 or 9 pounds. They don't have 1 surface plate. Nope they have them for each team. 4 teams with 5 or 6 surface plates each. They are flush with the floor for hanging bodies. Flush with the floor with scales built in... They are up on stands for building the chassis. They have 5 or 6 complete crab claws hanging from the ceiling so you can push a button and lower them onto the body when you are hanging the skin.
Its a rich mans game. There will be no more poor boys that run on a shoe string. The shoe string teams have a couple of million dollar budget. The days of Wendell Scott are no more. If you don't recognize the name google him. He drove the race car and changed his own tires during a pit stop.
Doug