Bootie Barker says back up if a driver pours water on himself. Credit: Autostock

Urban Legends: Dover

Think you really know NASCAR and its teams? Robert "Bootie" Barker, crew chief of the No. 66 Chevy, breaks down some of the truths and misconceptions about the sport:

Drivers never urinate in the car because they sweat so much.

	Credit: Autostock
	URBAN LEGEND •   Send Bootie your question ...

Fact: Well, I hate to say it, but this one is false. I've heard of at least one old school driver, and I'm not naming names, who used to relieve himself in the car all the time -- and that's just wrong. I'm sorry, but that's nasty.

Most drivers don't do it because they do sweat so much fluid out, and they usually try to go to the restroom one last time right before they climb in the car, but I have heard of it happening.

If I were that driver's crew, I believe I'd make him clean up the inside of the car when it got back to the shop. Now, I've also seen guys climb out and sprint to the bathroom after a race.

I can't imagine how distracting it would be to be driving at those speeds, and all you can think about is how much you need to go.

That would be rough. I'll leave you with this thought: The next time you're watching a race and you see a driver get out of his car and pour a bottle of water on himself, it might not just be because he's trying to cool off.

Fact: Drivers often use the media center bathroom right before the green flag. That is especially true at Dover, where the media center is located directly on pit road.

Fact: Media members will let drivers cut in line to go to the bathroom. In most cases.

Hauler drivers also have to be excellent cooks so the team can eat well at the track.

Fact: This one's mostly true, but it varies from team to team. I've seen some truck drivers who whip up some pretty elaborate spreads for their team, but my truck driver, Robby Maschaupt, isn't one of those guys.

Free VideoA day's worth of news in 90 seconds

When he took the job, the one thing he asked was, "Do I have to cook?" Some of the truck drivers that cook usually don't work on the cars, but Robby's in there getting his hands dirty with the rest of my crew, so he doesn't have much time for cooking, anyway.

What I want from a truck driver is simple:

• He must know where everything is on the truck.
• He keeps it clean and organized.
• He gets the truck safely to the track every week.

Robby's great at doing all of that, so it's OK that he isn't an amateur Emeril Lagasse.

Fact: A gentleman by the name of Kenny Enck has a catering business that sets up in the garage at every race, so some teams elect to simply contract out for their culinary needs.

Drivers eat during the race, but usually only small things like power bars.

Fact: Not true. I've heard of guys eating sandwiches during a race, believe it or not. I'm not sure how they do it, unless they just wolf it down during a caution period.

To me, that's one of those things you have to prepare yourself for as a driver ahead of time. You need to get the right nutrition in before the race starts and condition your body to not expect food during the race, so you don't have to worry about it.

It's like that with hydration, too. You can't just chug a bunch of water the night before the race and expect to be properly hydrated. The experts have taught these drivers that you have to start hydrating for Sunday on Wednesday.

You drink a lot of liquids up until the weekend, then actually taper off on Sunday morning. A guy who gulps a lot of water on Sunday morning to try and hydrate is just going to have to go to the bathroom a lot. It'll go right through him.

Teams get big discounts on hotel rooms.

Fact: Laughable. That's absolutely untrue. Hotels know the teams need rooms and that they'd like to stay close to the track, so they double the room rates, and sometimes even go higher than that.

Another thing is, since the larger teams need more rooms, they'll go to the larger teams and sign contracts with them for three or four years.

So we might stay at a hotel one year, then find out they don't have rooms when we go to try and get another contract with them, because they booked in a bigger team who can make them more guaranteed money.

Then there's the three-, four- and five-night minimums some of the hotels have. You may only want to stay one night, but you're going to pay for three, regardless. Daytona is the worst about that, especially during Speedweeks.

Fact: It is not uncommon for teams to stay in the same hotels that the fans do. Some of these hotels can be up to an hour away, and the trip is usually made in a crowded mini-van.

Teams have backups for everything from hoods to transmissions.

Fact: Pretty much true. We have backups for anything and everything we need. We even have sheets of steel and aluminum on the truck to do bodywork with if we need to.

Fact: On the rare instance a team doesn't have something it needs, there are a couple of companies who set up in the garage area that have what are basically rolling auto parts stores.

They have everything from nuts and bolts to helmets and shoes for the pit crew that you can buy.

Fact: Teams can always borrow a tool or a part from another team and then return it to them next week. We do that all the time, and people borrow from us all the time.