Your Beginner's Guide to Nascar

Welcome to the first Motorsports Girlies beginner's guide to Nascar. We hope that you will find all the information you need to get curious about this racing series.

A Quick Introduction

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, better known as NASCAR was founded on December 14th 1947. During the Prohibition era, Stock cars were originally used for bootleggers to steal moonshine from local speakeasies and to get away from police. Nowadays, the racing series today is broken into three different racing categories: Cup Series, Truck Series and Xfinity Series.  All the series have a regular season; the Cup Series has 26 races, Truck Series has 23 races, and Xfinity Series has 33 races. Unlike Formula One or Indycar, Nascar has a playoff season, which happens after the regular season.  As this article is only an introduction, it is going to mainly focus on the NASCAR Cup Series.

The Cars

The cars used in this racing series are actual stock cars that you can get off the car market. In order to prepare the cars to race in the series, the insides are gutted, and important components that a driver would need in their car are added, such as a radio for them to communicate to their pit box and spotters. Plus, the cars are equipped with a driver seat, but no passenger seat to reduce weight. The window on the driver side door is covered by a mesh net so the driver can get in and out of their car as quickly as possible. Necessities can also be handed to the driver through the window, like a fresh water bottle and even medication if the driver is feeling under the weather during pit stops. Currently, the big three manufacturers that are used are Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford.

The Point System

During a season, the races are broken up into three stages. At the end of each stage, only the top ten drivers are awarded points, but at the end of the final stage, all drivers are awarded points. For reference, here is how the points are divided between the finishing places. The race winner is awarded 40 points, second place is awarded 35 points, third place is awarded 34 points, fourth place is awarded 33 points. Then, from 36th to 41st position, they are awarded 1 point each.

The Playoff System

So, then what is this playoff business all about? After the regular season, which consists of 26 races and then 10 races in the playoffs, a bracket system is used to narrow down who is going to be the season's overall champion. Every winner during the regular season gets 10 additional playoff points and an automatic spot into the playoffs. All drivers compete in the regular season, but only those that are in the playoffs get to compete for playoff points and to win the championship trophy. It starts off at the round of sixteen  drivers, followed by a round of ten, eight, four, and then the final race between the remaining drivers.

In Nascar, you will often hear drivers use the words “The Big One”, which is a crash that happened at the YellaWood 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. There was a multi-car crash that took out twenty-eight drivers with only four laps to go in the race. Out of all the drivers involved in this collision, eight were playoff contenders. That crash is known as the historical big one. Nowadays, “The Big One” also refers to a crash involving five or more cars. 

I know how hard it can be to get into a new form of motorsports than ones that you are used to and I hope this guide helped you understand the basics of Nascar!