What Is NASCAR Racing?

NASCAR stands for ‘National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’ and is one of the most popular sports in America today. There are three series which come under the NASCAR banner: Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Cup series, the latter being the most popular and well known.

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Cars

The racing cars are based on American four-door cars such as Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota. They are nothing like the Formula 1 cars, which are single-seater open-cockpit open-wheeled racing cars with front and rear wings reaching speeds of 205mph. The NASCAR cars are not far behind on speed, reaching 200 mph on speedway tracks, but the G-force experienced by the driver is only 2Gs as opposed to 5Gs for Formula 1 drivers. NASCAR has fenders which allow contact between cars, and the engines generate over 750 horsepower.

Tracks

There are quite a number of tracks throughout America, with Michigan International Speedway being the most popular. It is a two-mile banked speedway and is known as the sister track to Texas World Speedway, which also has a two-mile track.

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Events

One of the first events in the annual calendar is the Daytona 500 – this is the biggest Sprint Cup race of the year. Other important races are the Bristol Motor Speedway, Brickyard 400 and the Memorial Day Weekend Coca-Cola 600. All races are worth the same number of points in the Sprint Cup Championship.

Nationwide

The Nationwide series is classed as the minor league where drivers use the experience to prove themselves and rise to the higher league.

Camping World Truck

NASCAR Camping World Truck series is a pick-up truck racing series and is the only one to run modified pick-up trucks.

Hospitality

As with any sport, companies provide events for colleagues and guests, taking them to sporting events and providing hospitality in luxurious locations. For Formula one there is Ermanno Palace (https://edgeglobalevents.com/f1-hospitality/monaco/7th-floor-ermanno-palace/), and for NASCAR there is Hilton Richmond in Virginia. Both provide excellent views of the racing tracks in a luxurious setting.

If you are a racing fan, sit back and enjoy the excitement, whether it is NASCAR racing or Formula 1 racing. The only real difference is the amount the drivers get paid. In Formula 1 it’s up to $40m a year, and in NASCAR it’s up to $12m.