The “Great American Race” Ready for Next Chapter

Two sports seasons start this weekend. In the college ranks, although basketball is coming down to the wire, baseball is ready to start. But on the professional level, sports fans in North Carolina and across the South are ready for NASCAR season. NASCAR technically started last week with the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona, but that’s basically the “preseason”. Sunday afternoon, it returns for real with the annual running of the Daytona 500. The 58th running of the race will be on Sunday, February 21 at 1:00 on Fox.

The major storyline entering this season is it’s the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after Jeff Gordon’s retirement, as he has now joined the TV booth with Fox. His old team, Hendrick Motorsports, still has six-time Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson and fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.; Kasey Kahne is now on the team along with newcomer Chase Elliott, a rookie who will take over the #24 car. He’s only 20 years old, but we’ve seen young talents win the race over the years, most famously Trevor Bayne in a spectacular upset in 2011. Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski are other young talents to watch. It’s also the 15th anniversary of the infamous crash that killed Dale Jr.’s famous father, as Jr. is still in pursuit of his first SCS title. Speaking of champions, this is Tony Stewart’s last season, and he has won it all three times, while Kyle Busch won it all last year and is looking to repeat.

For those unfamiliar with NASCAR, the Daytona 500 is the first race of the Sprint Cup Series, which is the highest level in NASCAR and usually has races on Sunday afternoon or Saturday night. There is also the Xfinity Series (formerly known as the Nationwide Series) that races on Saturday afternoon, and the Camping World Truck Series with races on Friday night. In the Sprint Cup Series, there are usually 43 cars in a race and they do a certain number of laps around a track. As the race progresses, different colored flags are waved by a man who stands on a perch above the finish line. When the race starts, a green flag is waved, and it is also waved during restarts. If there is a caution, a yellow flag is waved, and the drivers must slow down and some go to “pit road” to get gas or new tires during these. Usually there is a caution whenever there is a wreck or if there’s shrapnel on the track. A red flag means the race should be stopped immediately for safety reasons. If a driver commits a violation, a black flag is shown and the driver has five laps to respond, otherwise he is shown a black flag with a white stripe, suspending scoring of the car. There is also a blue flag with a yellow stripe, and it is shown to drivers not on the lead lap, indicating them to yield to the faster drivers. A white flag is waved when the final lap begins, and finally, the checkered flag signals the race is over and the winner has just crossed the finish line. The winner usually celebrates by burning out his tires and then goes to Victory Lane where he is cascaded with cheers from his pit crew.

There are 36 races in a season, and after each race, drivers receive points based on order of finish. After 26 races, the top 16 drivers in the standings compete in the NASCAR playoffs, which start in mid-September (those who didn’t make it can still participate in the last 10 races). Each of the 16 drivers starts with a total of 2,000 points and compete in three races. A win in either one of the three races means automatic entry to the next round, which has 12 drivers. The other drivers that advance are based on point standings. The 12 drivers’ point totals are reset to 3,000 points, and three more races are run. The third round has eight drivers and again they compete in three races; this time the starting point total is 4,000 points. After that round, the top four advance to the final race of the season in Miami, with each of them now having 5,000 points, and the highest finisher among the four drivers wins it all.