When NASCAR.com puts a 1 in front of a car's # (like 160 for Boris Said instead of 60), what does that mean?

May be...

Does it mean the car is running the number, but hasn't purchased it? I'm confused.

I think the other two have answered it well... however, I'd like to add that you will notice that they only use 2 digits when they actually race!)

My thought was that it was a matter of decision making was needed at the time of the entry & so they put a 1 in front just to be sure it was entered. (Going back to read the submission copied from Jayski's page.)

Have fun! :)

It is very complex.

NASCAR hands out numbers to the teams that want them. NASCAR charges a fee for that number. But NASCAR allows part-time teams to pay a lower fee if they only use it part time. So for example, number 20 is used by 2 teams. Brandon Ash uses it part-time, and his number on the car is 02, but in the owner's points and entry sheets, he has entered as car 102. This weekend, since Brandon Ash has not paid for that number, Joey Logano and Gibbs racing have the number leased to them for the week. So to the viewer, Joey Logano is driving car number 02, but to the race stewards and when reading entry sheets or owner's points standings, it is car number 202. So you can now differentiate between the 2 different cars bearing number 02.

It is very rare for this to happen, but it's a just-in-case measure.

It is very complicated but from what I understand, there may be two teams that have the number 60 and the other must use 160 and whichever qualifies gets to use it. If both qualify, one has to switch numbers.

The VP got it, its very complicated. But I copied and pasted this from Jayski, good luck on figuring it out.


Why does NASCAR (or NASCAR.com) use three digit numbers for some cars?
Sometimes different cars (Owners) have to share the same last two digits of a number. For instance, at the end of 2002, Rick Goodwin [Team Bristol] indicated that he would be renewing his Sprint Cup #54 because at the time, he had a full sponsorship from Toys "R" Us [which has since gone away]. After the renewal of his license this year, Travis Carter and his sponsorship [National Guard] wanted to use the Sprint Cup #54 as well. Since no two owners can occupy the same number, NASCAR licensed the #154 to Travis Carter with the caveat that should Rick Goodwin enter an event, they would have to find another number for Carter's car to use at that same event.
In an effort for membership and points to correctly assign championship car owner points, NASCAR has to distinguish between Rick Goodwin (#54) and Travis Carter (#154). Therefore, each owner continues to maintain throughout the season the car number they were originally licensed with. The Same goes for Marcis #71 and Lepage #171, if they enter the same race and both make it, Lepage needs to find a different number.(5-26-2003)