NASCAR turns to ‘Hawk-Eye’ to increase parity

The latest weapon in NASCAR’s decades-old battle to limit “creative engineering” by race teams is in use for the Daytona 500 and related events.

The Optical Scanning Station (OSS), developed by Hawk-Eye Innovations (and called “Hawk-Eye” by most team members), replaces the laser system used last season. The new inspection station uses cameras and projectors to put mapping lights over the surface of cars to determine if they fit the measurements designated by NASCAR.

The “map” that the system will produce in a span of about three minutes will be compared to the acceptable measurements of the Toyotas, Fords and Chevrolets competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. If cars fail, teams will be allowed to make adjustments and go through the scanning station again — a process that is likely to occur numerous times this season.

The system isn’t new to teams. One of the inspection stations is located at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., and teams have been making test runs through the station for months, learning how it operates.

The system is housed in a tent. The structure inside supports eight projectors and 16 cameras.

Teams will be allowed tiny tolerances outside the norm — 200-thousandths of an inch on glass surfaces and 150-thousandths of an inch on metal areas.