pace car

noun

Definition of pace car

: an automobile that leads the field of competitors through a pace lap but does not participate in the race

Examples of pace car in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Some of them reached speeds in the mid-90s, although they were required to stay behind a pace car with no passing. — al, "Drivers take their street rides on a NASCAR track for tornado relief," 2 Apr. 2021 A weird day for the pace car, which both ran out of fuel following Askew’s accident and also ran extremely slow on-track throughout the day, with some drivers blaming the pace for the difficulty with brakes and tires on restarts. — Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, "Late chaos, unforced errors, Newgarden & Dixon: Insider thoughts on IndyCar's St. Pete finale," 27 Oct. 2020 Fisher will carry on her traditional role as the in-race pace car driver, with Patrick in front of the camera. — Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Why the 2020 Indy 500 will be the first since 2000 without a driver who's a woman," 18 Aug. 2020 At the time, O’Ward was within about a half-second of Newgarden, but like the 500, there wasn’t enough time to line up behind the pace car, clean the track and get back to green before the checkered. — Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, "Josef Newgarden edges Pato O'Ward in final pit stop for second win of 2020 as Gateway finishes under yellow," 30 Aug. 2020 The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Wednesday morning a Torch Red 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupe will be the official Indianapolis 500 pace car. — Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, "IMS announces official pace car, driver for Indianapolis 500," 12 Aug. 2020 But after experiencing the IndyCar series in person for the first time last year as the Indy 500 pace car driver, his dream of dabbling in the series and getting to know the drivers that, for years, had run parallel to him hit a new level. — Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star, "Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives 'dream come true' in third-place finish for IndyCar iRacing debut," 12 Apr. 2020 At the back for the restart will be those that took the free pass (as the last car on the lead lap) or wave-around (while ahead of the leaders but behind the pace car) or were penalized. — Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "NASCAR's experimental pit stop rules will come into play at Road America this summer," 7 Jan. 2020 Johnson said in an interview with The Associated Press before driving the pace car for the start of the 2008 Daytona 500, the 50th running of that event. — Jenna Fryer, Twin Cities, "Junior Johnson, ‘The Last American Hero,’ dies at 88," 20 Dec. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pace car.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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pacchionian granulation

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Last Updated

16 Apr 2021

Cite this Entry

“Pace car.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pace%20car. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.

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