As a long time viewer of ESPN’s SportsCenter, it just struck me that I have very little understanding about how NASCAR works. I see that the drivers seem to race for different cups. Every once in a while, they even race trucks. Do all the drivers race every race in every cup race? Which cup’s winner is considered the best driver or NASCAR champion? I’m guessing that this answer is the Sprint cup. But then what’s the purpose of the other cups? Also, what happened to Kyle Busch? Earlier in the year, it seemed like he was winning every race. How come everyone stopped talking about him? With all those wins, I would think that he would be in the running for some championship. Also, what’s a restricter plate race and what’s its purpose?
To try to explain Nascar!
Nascar has three main series, the Sprint Cup, the Nationwise and the Craftmen Truck series and yes, the Sprint cup is considered the top notch series. The other two are in effect the feeder or learner series. Most drivers aspire to drive in cup someday even if only some have a legitimate shot at it. Another reason for the existence of the lesser series is money, it cost far less to race in those.
Now to talk about Kyle Bush, the Nascar season is made up of 26 races followed by 10 “Chase” races. After the first 26 races, the point accumulated by the drivers are reset so that only the top twelve have a chance of winning the championship and all twelve have a chance at it. The last ten races are called the “Chase”. Kyle pretty much smoked all of them early in the season but simply got unlucky in the final races and found himself low in score among the chase contenders.
By the way, the last race is tomorrow, Nov. 16 at Holmstead, Florida, I’ll be glued to the TV.
Just realized I forgot to explain the restrictor plate. It is a metal plate place between the carburetor and the intake manifold (Yes, Nascar still uses carburetors) to restict the horsepower of the engine at two race track, Daytona and Taladega. This is for safety reason to limit the top speed that the cars can reach. The plate has four hole to control how much air get in the engine.
At other tracks, the turns are such that the drivers have to slow down to go around them. but at Daytona and Taladega. they can hold the trottle wide open all the way around and reach speed in excess of 200 mph, I believe 212 at Taladega is the record from pre-restrictor plate held by Bill Elliot.
Thanks J-PL.
And Rusty Wallace tested there a couple of years ago with an unrestricted engine and had 218 MPH laps (hitting 230+ at the end of the straights).
Trivia: Lowe’s Motor Speedway is in CON-kord (like a guitar chord), not CON-kerd. When I was in Charlotte, the locals would wince when poeple said it wrong.
I’ve always assumed this to be true. So how come drivers can compete in multiple series at the same time? I’m sure I’ve read stories about drivers winning the Nationwide (or whatever it may have been called at the time) race on Saturday, then ALSO winning the Winston Cup or NEXTEL cup race on Sunday. It bugs me a little.
Joe
Explain NASCAR:
Car go left. Car go left again. Repeat ad nauseum. 