NASCAR Day 2024 is on Thursday, May 16, 2024: Can NASCAR get get any worse these days?

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Yep Nascar wants our Money and then makes the races a nooze fest. I went to the NHRA finale in Pomona today, it was great. I taped Phoenix and I have already deleted it..All I say is we need some rivalries and more teams winning, and more real racing some trading paint, Oops I forgot that's not allowed this day and time, you are not allowed to beat and bang or you will be in the Nascar hauler. If they keep the chase the way it is Jimmie will probably get his 5th next yr then 6th, I'll still be a Nascar fan but with less enthusiasm, and go to more IRL and Drag races. Yes I'd love to see The Rock and Wilkesboro back, but you have to remember those tracks are not Hollywood enough for Nascar, those tracks are no frills and not in the freaking market that Nascar wants to be in..

Go Dale Jr..Bring on 2010

What are the Basics of NASCAR?

One day, not so long ago, I was a CART fan. I married into a NASCAR family and had no clue what was going on. Now, CART has fallen apart and NASCAR is pretty much all there is to watch as Indy cars are glorified lawn mowers.

Here are the basics.

Anway, lets start with points:

Each driver that starts the race earns points. First place earns 175 points and 43rd place earns 34 points. A driver can earn 5 additional points for leading a lap. The driver that leads the most laps earns another 5 bonus points (for a total of 10 bonus points for the race).

The point increments between each position reduces at certain intervals. For some positions, it is a 5 point difference between positions, for some positions it is 4 points and for the rest it is 3 points (I am not sure of the exact range of positions for each point spread...5 points difference between positions is for the drivers that finish near the top and the 3 point difference is for the positions near the end of the field)

The points are accumulated over the entire season and this creates the driver rankings. The 10 drivers with the most points with 10 races left in the season are eligible to win the Nextel Cup. Both the drivers in the top 10 and below the top 10 are racing for position in the final standings during the last 10 races.

The rest is pretty much standard in all racing leagues.

The cars must meet certain critera to be legal. Some examples are car weight and height. Certain tracks require the spoiler be set at a minimum angle or higher. Some tracks require what are called restrictor plates to reduce the speeds of the car (these plates are put in the engine to restrict airflow and reduce the horesepower the engine can put out as a result). There are a ton of various restrictions on the car that can change from track to track. The point of all the restrictions is to keep the cars somewhat "even" mechanically.

NASCAR doesn't race in the rain on oval courses. I believe all series race in the rain on road courses though.

As far as rules...

Rules and NASCAR is kind of an oxymoron. There obviously are rules, but either rules seem to contradict or they are not enforced the same for all drivers.

The only rules that are consistantly enforced in NASCAR are the pit road rules. There is a speed limit on pit road (that changes from track to track). Each car has a pit "box" and no work can be done on the car outside the box. There is a limited number of crew workers that can go over the wall to service the car. All pit road equipment and tools must be removed from the car before the car leaves its box.

On the track, the rules are fuzzy at best. If a driver bumps a driver on the track and wrecks them, it is usually OK. A driver can be penalized for intentionally wrecking another car or for driving wrecklessly. When a driver in penalized for a driving infraction, the penalty varies widely. In 2001, Tony Stewart was put on probation for having an on-track conflict with Jeff Gordon. Stewart was penalized again while on probation, and his probation was only extended (which I thought defeats the point of probation) In 2002, Harvick got into an altercation with Biffle and was benched for the next race.

When the yellow flag is thrown, the field is frozen. This rule made a bunch of fans mad at the Daytona 500 this year as the yellow flag wasn't thrown on the last lap when Harvick and Martin were racing to the finish. The flag should have been thrown, giving the victory to Martin (probably). NASCAR didn't throw the flag and Harvick won while everyone from 3rd position on back wrecked.

Anyway, that's the basics of NASCAR. You'll pick it up as you watch it.

How about a NASCAR race on Thanksgiving Day? ?

Racing on turkey day is hazardous to the drivers. See the turkeys all know what day it is so they move to the city where shooting guns is illegal in an attempt to save theirs feathers. What they don't know is that cars going 195 mile per hour can make them loose their feathers also and be dangerous to the drivers. Have you ever hit a buzzard doing 60 mph? I have. We didn't have any window tear-offs either...!!!

Nah .. they need a break. That's probably the only time when the question "How do drivers go to the bathroom when driving?" is actually a serious question. After eating a big turkey dinner I'm sure they will need to make several trips to the bathroom ... LOL