Drivers, start your engines! The NASCAR Cup Series roars to life each February with the iconic Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida, setting the tone for months of high-speed drama. And for old and new fans alike, digging into some fascinating NASCAR facts can add a whole new layer of appreciation to what happens once the green flag drops.
Beyond the checkered flags and photo finishes, NASCAR is full of surprising details. From how the sport got its start to the physical strain drivers endure at 200 miles per hour, these facts reveal what makes stock-car racing so intense and unique. You’ll also learn lesser-known insights about racetrack lengths, layouts and other behind-the-scenes elements that will make you a whiz at your next trivia night.
Whether you’re trackside or watching from home, read on to explore NASCAR facts that give every lap even more meaning.
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Drivers can earn a big payday
Considered NASCAR’s most prestigious event, the Daytona 500 is often called the Great American Race. First place will pocket an estimated $3 million.
The season boasts more than 12,000 miles of racing
To win the Cup Series, a driver must top the standings at the end of the 36-race season. What determines those standings? Points, which drivers earn for their position at each stage of each race. Drivers race more than 12,000 miles in total each season. (The numbers in race names indicate the miles, not the laps.) That’s like going from New York to Los Angeles and back—twice.
NASCAR’s history involves bootleggers
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing—NASCAR for short—was founded in 1947. But its roots trace back to Prohibition. Bootleggers of the 1920s and ’30s moved alcohol in cars modified for extra speed so nimble drivers could outrun the police. The winner of the first official NASCAR race, held in Daytonain February 1948, was former booze runner Robert “Red” Byron.
Racing is very physically demanding
If auto racing hardly seems like a sport to you, consider this: Duringa race, a driver’s heart rate turbos to 170 to 180 beats per minute, right in line with the average marathoner. NASCAR drivers also lose up to seven pounds of sweat from start to finish, so they use pit stops to wolf down energy gels and bars.
Pit stops are lightning fast
Pit stops lastan average of 13 to 16 seconds. In that blink of an eye, five people from the pit crew refuel the car and change some or all of the tires. The fastest tire changers make a swap in about four seconds.
Racetrack lengths and layouts are all different
Racetracks vary in size, ranging from the shortest, the quarter-mile oval at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina, to the longest, Road America in Wisconsin, a 4-mile road course with 14 turns. Not every track features in the Cup Series every year, except stalwarts like Daytona and Indiana’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But the Indy 500 race that also happens at the Speedway is not a NASCAR event. It’s part of the IndyCar Series, which is more like Formula 1.
Formula 1 is giving NASCAR a run for its money
Formula 1, or F1, features smaller single-seat cars with open cockpits. These cars go faster than the stock cars of NASCAR, which look more like sedans. Some F1 races take place on city streets, not racetracks. In the United States, NASCAR is the more popular of the two; globally, F1 has the larger fan base. But F1 has exploded in popularity stateside, thanks, in part, to the Netflix reality series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. ESPN, which broadcasts F1 races, says viewership has doubled since 2018.
NASCAR has gone global
Still, NASCAR is not an exclusively American sport. Races have been held as far away as Australia and Japan, and last June, an official point-paying Cup Series race was held outside the U.S. for the first time, at the Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez in Mexico City. NASCAR also runs separate series in Mexico, Canada and Brazil, as well as one in Europe.
Women love the sport—as fans and drivers
Women make up about 37% of the NASCAR fan base. In fact, female drivers go bumper to bumper with their male counterparts in NASCAR races. Danica Patrickis perhaps the most famous female driver. She became the first woman to hold the pole position (the front and most favorable position at the start of a race, given to the driver with the fastest qualifying time) in the Daytona 500 in 2013. Though Patrick never won a NASCAR race before she retired in 2018, she still holdsthe record for the most top-10 finishes by a female driver, at seven.
Photo finishes catch a split-second difference
When three drivers crossed the finish line just 0.007 of a second apart at a race in Atlanta in February 2024, two high-speed cameras determined their order. Of course, such technology didn’t exist at the first Daytona 500 in 1959. Lee Petty was declared the winner of that race—but not until 61 hours after it ended. A newsreel image developed days after the race proved that Petty had crossed the finish line 2 feet ahead of his competitor, Johnny Beauchamp.
NASCAR legends are pretty impressive
Lee Petty’s son, Richard Petty,is a NASCARlegend in his own right. Affectionately known as The King among fans, Richard is the all-time winningest driver with 200 wins, nearly twice as many victories as David Pearson, who holds second place. On the opposite end of things, J.D. McDuffie raced 653 times in his nearly 30-year career beginning in 1963, yet he never won a race.
Each flag has its own distinct meaning
Even if you’ve never watched NASCAR, you’d likely still recognize the black-and-white checkered flag that signals the end of a race. The flagman, who stands above the finish line and essentially controls the race, uses different flags to communicate various messages to the drivers, including white (one lap remaining), green (go/race normally), yellow (reduce speed/raceunder caution) and red (stop). Yellow and red flags may also be used to indicate dangerous conditions like bad weather, debris onthe track, or crashes.
Auto racing is risky … but safer than it was
Auto racing, it must be said, is inherently dangerous. Cars collide regularly, often going 200 mph. Following the 2001 death of driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. from a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500, NASCAR implemented safety upgrades such as the HANS device (a head restraint designed to protect the neck) and the SAFER barrier (a cushioned wall that surrounds the track). Thankfully, there have been no driver fatalities in the NASCAR CupSeries since.
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Sources:
- NASCAR: “NASCAR History”
- Prohibition: “NASCAR Rooted in Prohibition Bootlegging”
- Flow Racers: “How Many Pit Stops Are There in a NASCAR Race?”
- Autoweek: “10 Incredible NASCAR Records That Will NEVER Be Broken”
- NASCAR Pole Position: “2020 Preview”
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