NASCAR
NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and is the company known for stock-car racing. The company was established in 1948 and has its headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. There are over 1,500 NASCAR sanctioned races each year, with most taking place in the United States.
The NASCAR Cup Series is the highest level of auto racing competitions and hugely popular, especially in the U.S. There are 36 races per year in the NASCAR schedule over ten months, with the one exception being an abbreviated 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main goal of any NASCAR sanctioned race is to take the checkered flag, which means to win the race.
Online NASCAR
When it comes to NASCAR online betting, there are a lot of options. With the massive popularity of NASCAR and NASCAR races, pretty much, all online sportsbooks will post odds for NASCAR races. Most of the odds you will see for NASCAR races are for the NASCAR Cup Series, but many books also have odds posted for other series’ as well.
There are many bets to make on NASCAR races and not just what driver will win the race, even though that is the most popular bet. There are driver-vs-driver bets, prop bets and futures bets for NASCAR, among others.
The most bets available will be for the NASCAR Cup series. This is especially the case for proposition bets, and there are many bet types available for the bigger races in the series.
Some sportsbooks will offer bonuses and promotions for NASCAR. This is more so the case for the premier races in the NASCAR Cup Series.
There is even an online set of NASCAR, with virtual drivers taking part in the action that can be bet on.
Rules and Gameplay
In NASCAR, they issue a different rule book for each racing series, and these rules are for the most popular in the NASCAR Cup Series. The cars in a NASCAR race have a number on the top, and sponsors adorn all the cars. There are NASCAR teams, and each team can have up to four cars in a race.
The drivers will be in positions on the starting line based on what their times were in the race qualifying. The driver with the best time in qualifying is awarded the pole position, which is the first position on the starting line.
After the start of the race, the drivers race each other going around the track a certain amount of times, and the checkered flag is given the driver the completes the determined number of laps first. Every driver has a pit, where the car can get out of the race and can be worked on. This is where the car is refueled, and new tires are put on before re-entering the race.
During the race, the action is fast and furious with the cars whipping around the track. While the competition is continuous, there are times when the race can be paused or even stopped. There is a set of flags that the drivers have to adhere to, with the checkered flag being the last one, which shows the winner.
Here are the different flags and their meaning for a NASCAR race:
- Green Flag – indicates that the NASCAR race has started, and it will also be flown when the race restarts.
- Green and While Checkered Flag – Indicates the indicate the end of a race stage.
- Yellow Flag – The yellow flag is a caution flag usually seen when there is an accident on the track. All of the cars slow down and follow the pace car, and passing is not allowed under the yellow flag.
- Red Flag – Indicates the stoppage of the race, and it is typically seen for a major multi-car accident, bad weather, or damage to the track. Usually, for a red flag, the cars will return to their pits.
- White Flag – The white flag indicates the last lap of the race.
- Checkered Flag – when a winning driver crosses the finish line, the checkered flag indicates the race is over.
- Black Flag – Indicates that a driver has to enter their pit immediately. It is shown that if a driver or their pit crew has a rule violation or a driver’s car has mechanical damage. It can be a hazard to the other drivers.
- Black Flag with a White Cross – Indicates a driver is not being scored any longer and is usually given when the driver finishes three laps without heeding the black flag.
- Blue Flag with a Yellow Stripe – indicates to slow cars that faster cars are approaching.
- Blue Flag – Indicates an area of the track that where there may be a hazard, such as a blockage stopped cars. If the hazard is a substantial one, the yellow flag is given.
For the standard procedure for the race positions, all tracks that are over 1.25 miles use one lap to determine the starting position. For tracks that are shorter than 1.25 miles, two laps are used to determine the starting position.
Some penalties are given in a NASCAR race and can result in a restart at the end of the field, a multiple lap penalty, or disqualification. Just a few of the penalties are pitting out of order, non-compliant refueling, pitting before pit road is open, crewmember(s) over the wall too soon, and jumping any green flag.
NASCAR also runs technical car inspections before a practice session, before and after race qualifying, and before a race. After a race, the top five finishers and one random car have their cars inspected.
The penalties are either fines, deduction of points, disqualification from the race, or suspension for upcoming races. Starting in 2019 aby car that failed the post-race inspection was automatically disqualified and given a last-place finish in the race.
The NASCAR Cup Series is a point system for the season where the driver with the most points at the end of the season wins the NASCAR Cup, which is the champion driver for the season.
Drivers accumulate points for all 36 races with 40 points going to the winner and down to 1 point for finishers 36-40. There are now three stages o every race, and drivers can get points depending on how they do in those stages.
Strategy and Tactics
There are many strategies and tactics used by drivers and their crew in races. Most of them have to do when to pit, and the time it takes to do that. The crew chief and the driver have to devise a strategy during the race to know when to pit without losing too much time. For example, the team has to strategize when to pit to replace tires and fuel, doing so as quickly as possible in various stages of the race.
Drivers also have strategies in place during the race when it comes to passing. The main goal of a NASCAR race is to win, and to do that, drivers will need to pass cars in front of them. There are various strategies for passing a car out front.
In any race, there is a battle for positioning, as the better the position when the race is over, the more points a driver will receive. Just like passing a driver ahead of other ones want to keep other cars from passing them. They can come up with tactics to do that, such as blocking or slowing down.
History of NASCAR
NASCAR was established in 1948. The driving force was William France Sr., who he was a mechanic as well as an auto-repair shop owner and in the mid-1930s. He moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, where stock racing was surging in popularity. France promoted races and was involved in the racing scene in the area.
France saw races could be different for various racing events and also saw that promoters were taking a lion’s share of the prize money. He saw the need for a racing governing body and brought together the racing community to discuss it. At one of the meetings in February of 1948, NASCAR came about, and France Sr. was the first president.
The first NASCAR stock race took place on June 19, 1949, and was held at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina with around 13,000 fans. At the beginning of NASCAR, the car used was close to a typical road car, but with some slight modifications.
The first NASCAR-based racetrack was established in 1950 in Darlington Raceway in South Carolina and after that more followed, such as Daytona International Speedway, which opened in 1959.
In February 1959, the first Daytona 500 was run as the first race of the NASCAR season. That remains the case to this day and is one of the premier races on the NASCAR schedule.
In 1979 the first Daytona 500 was on national television. Incidentally, after that race, drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnie and Bobby Allison got into a fight that raised publicity for NASCAR.
The sport kept thriving throughout the decades, with more and more fans and most races broadcast. There were also more series added throughout the years and safety measures for the cars. Today NASCAR is a huge industry with very lucrative corporate sponsorships and billion-dollar TV contracts.
In the history of NASCAR, three drivers are tied with the most season championships with seven in Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson holds the record for most consecutive titles with five from 2006-2010.
One of the darkest days of NASCAR was during the 2001 Daytona 500. Legendary driver Dale Earnhardt, whose nickname was "The Intimidator,” died in a crash on the last lap. His death was not in vain, as after the fateful crash, more safety measures were put in place.
The NASCAR Sanctioned series are:
National Series
- Cup Series
- 2Xfiniti Series
- Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series
- ARCA Menards Series
International Series
- Pinty's Series
- PEAK Mexico Series
- Whelen Euro Series
Regional Racing Series
- Weekly Series
- Whelen Modified Tour
- ARCA Menards Series East and West
- AutoZone Elite and other divisions
Online Racing Series
- eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series
- eNASCAR Heat Pro League
- eNASCAR Ignite Series
- eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
Wall of Fame
The Wall of Fame for NASCAR is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and opened in 2010. Not only are the best drivers inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but also crew chiefs, owners, broadcasters, and other significant contributors to the sport.
You can check out all the members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and a lot of other NASCAR information at the NASCAR Hall of Fame website.
While the debate rages for the best NASCAR driver of all time, Richard Petty is often given that title. He has a slew of records, and his nickname is “The King,” so hard to argue with the reasoning that he is the best.
Some of the other drivers in the conversation of the best NASCAR drivers of all time are Jimmy Johnson, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordan, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, and Bobby Allison.
Distinctive Elements
The main distinctive element of NASCAR has to be the speed that is involved in NASCAR races. The drivers are whizzing around the track, going 200 miles an hour. The precision of the NASCAR drivers, which are in close proximity, is another distinctive element for all drivers yearning to get the checkered flag.
A distinctive element of NASCAR used to be a sport associated with the south in the United States. However, in the past few decades, the sport has become popular all over the world. The different series of NASCAR appeal to all types of race fans. To the big Cup Series, truck racing, and now even virtual racing, there is a niche for every fan.
NASCAR Statistics
There are many NASCAR statistics, as there are some for all time, seasons, and individual races. A few of the top stats for NASCAR in terms of drivers in the Cup series include average finish, wins, top five's, pole positions, top ten's, and laps led.
All-time NASCAR races won is an important stat when measuring the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. In-race stats include lap times, speeds, and pit times.
When a bettor handicaps NASCAR, they always look at the stats to make a more intelligent bet. They can look at some of the stats, such as how a driver has done at a certain race, or on a particular type of racetrack. Like in any sports bet, if you handicap NASCAR races, it can give you a better chance to win bets.
Popularity and Cultural Impact
NASCAR has reached immense popularity these days, and you can see that by the people watching races on TV. For example, the NASCAR schedule was shortened in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Fox’s broadcast of the NASCAR race in Darlington, South Carolina, had 6.32 million watchers. Almost all of the Cup NASCAR races are televised.
The drivers are sports stars, and they are sought to endorse products and lend their names to worthy causes. As mentioned before, NASCAR is not only associated with the south any longer, as it is a legit national sport that has tons of fans.
