Ever been flipping through channels and seen race cars running around a track and wonder what is that? Well, it’s NASCAR. WHAT is NASCAR? NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. There are three National series of NASCAR which are the NASCAR Cup series, the Xfinity Series and the Gander RV and Outdoor Truck series. There are five regional series of NASCAR as well, which are the ARCA Menards series East, ARCA Menards series West, NASCAR Pinty’s series, NASCAR Whelen Euro series, and NASCAR Peak Mexico series. We are only going to focus on the national series.
The NASCAR Cup series is the highest level of professional competition. It is also the most popular and most profitable. There are 36 races in about 10 months. Drivers compete for a championship at the end of season with a series of 10 races. Some of the popular drivers in the series are Kyle Busch, Chase Elliot, Jimmie Johnson,Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keslowski, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Ricky Steinhouse Jr.. There are four sponsors this year: Coca-Cola, Xfinity, Busch Beer, and GEICO. In previous years, there has only been one sponsor per year like Monster, Sprint, Nextel, and R.J. Tobacco Company. Now, it’s simply named the NASCAR Cup series. The most recent champion of the the Cup series was Kyle Busch in 2019. They are currently a few races into the 2020 season. Drivers do compete for a championship just like they do in the Cup series.
The NASCAR Xfinity series is the 2nd highest level of professional competition. The most recent champion of the Xfinity series was Tyler Reddick in 2019. Tyler Reddick moved up to the Cup series in 2020. It was originally called the Busch series, then in 2008 it was renamed in the Nationwide series, then in 2015 it was renamed again to the Xfinity series because it is being sponsored by Comcast, through its Xfinity brand. The Xfinity series is less races than the Cup series. Some popular drivers in the Xfinity series are Brandon Jones, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Justin Allgaiar, Ross Chastain, and Danial Hemric.
The Gander RV and Outdoor Truck series is the 3rd highest level of professional competition. The most recent champion in the series is Matt Crafton. It was originally named the Supertruck series presented by Craftsman. In 2009, the series was named the Camping World Truck series. In 2019, the series was renamed the Gander RV and Outdoor Truck series. Drivers compete for a championship just like they do in the Xfinity series. Some of the popular drivers in the series are Austin Hill, Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, and Spencer Boyd.
Safety is a huge part of NASCAR. It’s super important for the drivers to remain safe while racing. However, the safety measures only adopted long after they were initially developed. And only in response to injury or fatality. One of the safety measures is the safer barrier. The impact absorbing safer barrier is now in use originally an idea had been dismissed as too expensive and unnecessary. Only after the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. did NASCAR revisit the idea of a safer barrier. Other examples of safety measures are fire-retardant driver suits and the HANS (head and neck support device) device.
There are many rules in NASCAR. We are just gonna talk about cautions and restarts because they are the most complex. When the yellow flag is displayed and the yellow caution lights around the track come on, the field is frozen immediately at the moment of caution. All scoring ends immediately and cars are too slow to pace vehicle (safety car) speed. The exception to this rule is if the flag waves after the white flag is thrown. When the caution comes out, the pit lane is immediately closed, a rule first implemented in 1989. This is shown by a flashing red light at the entrance to pit road. If you enter pit road when it is closed, you get a penalty of restarting at the rear of the field. When pit road is open, a steady green light will appear at the entrance to pit road, and a green light will come on in the rear window of the pace vehicle. At the one to go signal, the pace car will turn its light off. At this point, any car that is ahead of the leader of the race will be waved around to the rear of the field. These cars are not permitted to pit until after the green flag comes back out and race has resumed. The field will then line up a double file for the restart. The leader of the race gets lane choice. One the pace car has pulled into the pits, there is a restart zone consisting of lines painted on the outside wall of the track. The leader of the race is to begin accelerating inside this zone to resume the race. If they do not, the flagman controls the restart.
There are many different flags in a NASCAR race. The green flag indicates that the race has started or restarted. The green and white checkered flag is shown to indicate the end of a race stage. After the top ten drivers cross the start/ finish line the caution flag is displayed. The yellow flag or caution flag indicates a hazard on the track, most often an accident, but sometimes also for debris, light rain, or a scheduled competition caution. The red flag indicates that the race has been stopped. This may happen due to a large accident, heavy rain, track repair, or severe track. The white flag indicates one lap remaining in the race. The checkered flag indicates that the race is over. The black flag indicates that a driver must pit immediately. This flag is shown if the driver or pit crew violates a rule, if the vehicle, has sufficient mechanical damage that is a hazard to the other drivers, if the vehicle cannot maintain the minimum required speed, or if a driver has been driving overly aggressively. The black flag with a white cross indicates that a driver is no longer being scored. The blue flag with a yellow stripe is shown to warn slow drivers of the fastest cars approaching.