The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

series in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, when the series began leasing its

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to the

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded by namesake R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the largest tobacco company in the United States. The company is a w ...

, it was referred to as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (1971–2003). A similar deal was made with

Nextel Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and form ...

in 2003, and it became the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (2004–2007). Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (2008–2016). In December 2016, it was announced that

Monster Energy Monster Energy is a brand of energy drink, energy drinks that was created by Hansen Natural Company (now Monster Beverage Corporation) in April 2002. In 2022, Monster Energy had a 30.1% Market share, share of the American energy drink market, th ...

would become the new title sponsor, and the series was renamed the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (2017–2019). In 2019, NASCAR rejected Monster's offer to extend the naming rights deal beyond the end of the season. NASCAR subsequently announced its move to a new tiered sponsorship model beginning with the 2020 season similar to other U.S. based professional sports leagues, where it was simply known as the NASCAR Cup Series, with the sponsors of the series being called Premier Partners. The three Premier Partners are

Busch Beer Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, and

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications business segment and division of the Comcast Corporation. It is used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless servic ...

. The championship is determined by a points system, with points being awarded according to finish placement and number of laps led. The season is divided into two segments. After the first 26 races, 16 drivers, selected primarily on the basis of wins during the first 26 races, are seeded based on their total number of wins. They compete in the last ten races, where the difference in points is greatly minimized. This is called the

NASCAR playoffs The NASCAR playoffs, formerly officially known as the Chase for the Nextel/Sprint Cup (Nextel from 2004–2007, Sprint from 2008–2016), is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as The Ch ...

. The series holds strong roots in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

, with about half of the races in the 36-race season being held in that region. , the schedule includes tracks from around the United States. There have been races held outside the United States with exhibition races previously held in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and a one-off race held in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Soon the Cup Series will head to Mexico City for the first time ever in a points race. The

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

, the most prestigious race, had a television audience of about 9.17 million U.S. viewers in 2019. Cup Series cars are unique in automobile racing. While the engines are powerful enough to reach speeds of over , their weight coupled with a relatively simple aerodynamic package (based on the body styles of cars currently available for retail sale in the United States) make for poor handling. The bodies and chassis of the cars are strictly regulated to ensure parity, and electronics are traditionally spartan in nature.

History

Strictly Stock and Grand National

In 1949, NASCAR introduced the Strictly Stock division, after sanctioning Modified and Roadster division races in 1948. Eight races were run on seven dirt ovals and on the Daytona Beach beach/street course."Strictly Stock Standings and Statistics for 1949" page of Racing-Reference websit

, retrieved May 9, 2007. The first 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Series inaugural race, NASCAR "Strictly Stock" race was held at

Charlotte Speedway Charlotte Speedway was the site of NASCAR's first Strictly Stock Series (now NASCAR Cup Series) race on June 19, 1949. The Daytona Beach Road Course held the first race sanctioned by NASCAR in 1948. The track was a few miles west of the NASCAR ...

on June 19, 1949.

Jim Roper Christian David "Jim" Roper (August 13, 1916 – June 23, 2000) was a NASCAR driver. He lived in Halstead, Kansas. He is most known as the winner of the first ever NASCAR race at Charlotte. Racing career Roper lived at his grandfather's ho ...

was declared the winner of that race after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified for having altered the rear springs on his car; the first series champion was Red Byron. The division was renamed "Grand National" for the 1950 season, reflecting NASCAR's intent to make the sport more professional and prestigious. It retained this name until 1971. The 1949 Strictly Stock season is regarded in NASCAR's record books as the first season of GN/Cup history.

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States, a community of Martinsville, Virginia. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1947, primarily events sanctione ...

is the only track on the 1949 schedule that remains on the current schedule. Rather than having a fixed schedule of one race per weekend with most entrants appearing at every event, the Grand National schedule has included over sixty events in some years. Often there were two or three races on the same weekend and occasionally two races on the same day in different states. In the early years, most Grand National races were held on dirt-surfaced short oval tracks that ranged in lap length from under a quarter mile to over a half mile, or on dirt fairgrounds ovals usually ranging from a half mile to a mile in lap length. Of the first 221 Grand National races, 198 were run on dirt tracks.

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a egg-shaped oval track in Darlington, South Carolina. The track has hosted a variety of racing events since its inaugural season of racing in 1950; primarily races sanctioned by NASCAR. The venue has a capacity of 47,00 ...

, opened in 1950, was the first completely paved track on the circuit over long. In 1959, when

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

was opened, the schedule still had more races on dirt racetracks than on paved ones. In the 1960s as

superspeedway Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost uni ...

s were built and old dirt tracks were paved, the number of races run on dirt tracks was reduced.Fielden, Greg, "NASCAR Cleans Up", ''Speedway Illustrated'', September 2004. The last NASCAR Grand National race on a dirt track (until

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

) was held on September 30, 1970, at the half mile State Fairgrounds Speedway in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. Richard Petty won that race in a

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

that had been sold by

Petty Enterprises Petty Enterprises (formerly Lee Petty Engineering) was a NASCAR racing team based in Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina, Level Cross, North Carolina, United States, USA. It was founded by Lee Petty with his two sons Richard Petty and Ma ...

to Don Robertson and rented back by Petty Enterprises for the race.

Winston Cup

Between 1971 and 2003, NASCAR's premier series was sponsored by

cigarette brand Winston, dubbing it the Winston Cup Series. The series was originally called the Winston Cup Grand National Series before "Grand National" was dropped in 1986. In 1971, the

Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act is a 1970 federal law in the United States designed to limit the practice of tobacco smoking. As approved by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon, the act required a str ...

banned television advertising of cigarettes. As a result, tobacco companies began to sponsor sporting events as a way to spend their excess advertising dollars and to circumvent the ban. RJR's sponsorship became more controversial in the wake of the 1998 Tobacco Industry Settlement that sharply restricted avenues for tobacco advertising, including sports sponsorships. The changes that resulted from RJR's involvement in the series as well as from the reduction in schedule from 48 to 31 races per year established 1972 as the beginning of NASCAR's "modern era". The season was made shorter, and the points system was modified several times during the next four years. Races on dirt tracks and on oval tracks shorter than were removed from the schedule and transferred to the short-lived

NASCAR Grand National East Series The NASCAR Grand National East Series was a short-lived racing series created by NASCAR in 1972 to provide a second-tier series, below the Winston Cup Series, to provide races at tracks that had been removed from the former Grand National Series ...

, and the remaining races had a minimum prize money of $30,000. NASCAR's founder,

Bill France Sr. William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992) was an American businessman and racing driver. He was also known as Bill France Sr. or Big Bill. He is best known for founding and managing NASCAR, a sanctioning body of US-based s ...

, turned over control of NASCAR to his oldest son, Bill France Jr. In August 1974, France Jr. asked series publicist Bob Latford to design a points system with equal points being awarded for all races regardless of length or prize money.Mitchell, Jason, "How Do They Do That?: Winston Cup Point System", Stock Car Racing (ISSN 0734-7340), Volume 36, Number 10, October 2001. This system ensured that the top drivers would have to compete in all the races in order to become the series champion. This system remained unchanged from 1975 until the Chase for the Championship was instituted in 2004. Dale Earnhardt visits Langley AFB

Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the first non-exhibition race of the year. ABC Sports aired partial or full live telecasts of Grand National races from Talladega, North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Charlotte, and Nashville in 1970. Because these events were perceived as less exciting than many Grand National races, ABC abandoned its live coverage. Races were instead broadcast, delayed and edited, on the ABC sports variety show '' Wide World of Sports''. In 1979, the Daytona 500 became the first stock car race that was nationally televised live from flag to flag on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. The leaders going into the last lap,

Cale Yarborough William Caleb Yarborough (March 27, 1939 – December 31, 2023) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winn ...

and

Donnie Allison Donnie Allison (born September 7, 1939) is an American former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned from 1966 to 1988. He is part of the " Alabama Gang", and is the br ...

, wrecked on the backstretch while dicing for the lead, allowing Petty to pass them both for the win. Immediately, Yarborough, Allison, and Allison's brother Bobby were engaged in a fistfight on national television. This underlined the drama and emotion of the sport and increased its broadcast marketability. The race coincided with a major snowstorm along the United States' eastern seaboard, successfully introducing the sport to a captive audience. In 1981, an awards banquet began to be held in New York City on the first Friday evening in December. The first banquets were held in the

Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Street (Manhattan), 50th Streets, is a 47-story ...

's Starlight Room and in 1985 were moved to the much larger Grand Ballroom. For 2001, the banquet portion was dropped in favor of a simpler awards ceremony, which was also moved to the

Hammerstein Ballroom The Hammerstein Ballroom is a ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,000 people for theat ...

at the

Manhattan Center The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballro ...

the following year. However, in 2003, the festivities returned to the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, and the banquet format was reinstated. In 1985, Winston introduced a new awards program called the Winston Million. From 1985 to 1997, any driver who won three of the four most prestigious races in the series was given one million dollars. The prize was only won twice;

Bill Elliott William Clyde Elliott Sr. (born October 8, 1955), also known as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville", "Million Dollar Bill", or "Wild Bill" is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Superstar Racing Experienc ...

won in 1985,

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports Color analyst, analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NAS ...

nearly won in 1989,

Davey Allison David Carl "Davey" Allison (February 25, 1961 – July 13, 1993) was an American NASCAR driver. He was best known for driving the No. 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Born in Hollywood, Florida, ...

nearly won in 1992, Dale Jarrett nearly won in 1996, and

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

won in 1997. The Winston Million was replaced with a similar program, the Winston No Bull Five, in 1998. This program awarded one million dollars to any driver who won a prestigious race after finishing in the top five of the most previous prestigious races. The series underwent a large boom in popularity in the 1990s. In 1994, NASCAR held the first

Brickyard 400 The Brickyard 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the ...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

. Between 1997 and 1998, the winner's prize money for the Daytona 500 tripled. This coincided with a decline of popularity in

American Championship Car Racing American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025 IndyCar Series, 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sa ...

. In 1999, NASCAR made a new agreement with

Fox Broadcasting Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its ass ...

, and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. The contract, signed for eight years for Fox and six years for NBC and Turner, was valued at $2.4 billion. In 2001,

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

visited NASCAR tracks as research for the 2006

animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

'', which included the voices of Petty and

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

To avoid advertising tobacco in a Disney film, "Piston Cup" served as Pixar's allusion to the Winston Cup (however, by the time the film came out, Nextel had replaced Winston as the series title sponsor).

Nextel and Sprint

During the 2002 season, R.J. Reynolds notified NASCAR leadership that they would terminate their title sponsorship prematurely at the conclusion of the 2003 season. NASCAR negotiated a contract with

, a telecommunications company to replace Winston, and in 2004 the series became known as the Nextel Cup Series. The 2006 merger between Sprint and Nextel resulted in the Cup Series being renamed the Sprint Cup, beginning with the 2008 season. The Sprint Cup trophy was designed by Tiffany & Co. and is silver, with a pair of checkered flags in flight.Racingone.com
"Nextel Cup Unveiled" Retrieved 8–4–08 By 2009, the popularity boom of the 1990s had ended, and television ratings over the previous ten years had become more or less stagnant. Some long-time fans have criticized the series for losing its traditional appeal because of abandoning venues in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

in favor of newer markets. They have also voiced discontent over

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

's presence in the series. Japanese telecommunications corporation

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

acquired Sprint in July 2013. While NASCAR was suspicious of diversity promotion and aware of the negative implications of the

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

image, it also recognized the opportunities to expand the sport. NASCAR's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Brian France Brian Zachary France (born August 2, 1962) is an American businessman and the former Chief executive officer, CEO and Chair (official), chairman of NASCAR. He served in the post from 2003 to 2018, following his grandfather (and NASCAR co-founder) ...

has become a prime target for criticism among fans during his tenure from 2003 to 2018. In 2016, NASCAR announced the creation of a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

system (in association with the Race Team Alliance, formed in 2014), which would guarantee 36 teams' entry to all 36 races. Eligibility for a charter would depend on a team's attempts to qualify for every race within the previous three seasons. In conjunction with this rule, NASCAR also reduced the size of the Cup field to 40 cars.

Chase for the Cup

Along with the change in title sponsorship for the series, the 2004 season also introduced a new system for determining the series champion, influenced by the system used in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series. Originally known as the ''Chase for the Nextel Cup'' (or simply ''"The Chase"'', and later changed to Sprint branding), the ten highest-scoring drivers and teams (plus ties) in the first 26 races of the season became eligible to win the championship by competing in a playoff held within the final ten races. This number was increased to 12 teams in 2007. The Chase participants had their points increased to a level mathematically unattainable by anyone outside this field (roughly 1,800 points ahead of the first driver outside the Chase). From the inaugural Chase in 2004 to the 2006 Chase, the drivers were seeded based on points position at the end of the regular season, with first place starting with 5,050 points and tenth place starting with 5,005. From 2007 to 2010, the points totals of each driver who made the Chase were reset to 5,000 points, plus ten additional points for each race victory during the first 26 races. Points would still be awarded as usual during the affected races. The driver leading in points after the 36th race would be declared the champion. As part of a major change in the points system that took effect in 2011, the qualifying criteria and the points reset were changed as well. From 2011 to 2013, the ten drivers with the most points automatically qualified for the Chase. They were joined by two "wild card" qualifiers, specifically, the two drivers with the most race wins who were ranked between 11th and 20th in drivers' points. Their base point totals were then reset to 2,000 points, a level more than 1,000 points higher than that of the first driver outside the Chase. (Under the new point system, a race winner can earn a maximum of 48 points, as opposed to 195 in the pre-2011 system.) The ten automatic qualifiers received a bonus of three points for each win during the regular season, while the two wild card qualifiers received no such bonus. As in the past, the race layouts for the remaining ten races were the same, with no changes to the scoring system. On November 20, 2011,

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

and

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards Jr. (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for ''NASCAR on Prime Video''. He last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No ...

ended the season in a first-ever points tie. Stewart's five season wins (all in the Chase) over Edwards' one win (in the third race of the season) gave Stewart the tiebreaker. Hence, he was named the winner of the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. For 2014, NASCAR announced wide-ranging changes to the Chase format: * The group of drivers in the Chase officially became the ''NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Grid''. * The number of drivers qualifying for the Chase Grid ranges from 12 to 16. * 15 of the 16 spots in the Chase Grid are reserved for the drivers with the most race wins over the first 26 races. The remaining spot is reserved for the points leader after 26 races, but only if that driver does not have a victory. If fewer than 16 drivers have wins in the first 26 races, the remaining Chase Grid spots are filled by winless drivers in order of points earned due that season. All drivers on the Chase Grid continue to have their driver points reset to 2,000 before the Chase, with a three-point bonus for each win in the first 26 races. * The Chase is now divided into four rounds. After each of the first three rounds, the four Chase Grid drivers with the fewest points for the season are eliminated from the Grid and from Championship contention. Any driver on the Grid who wins a race in the first three rounds automatically advances to the next round. All drivers eliminated from the Chase have their points readjusted back to the points they started with at the beginning of the Round of 16, (race 27) plus any points earned after, using the regular season points scheme only (no Round of 12, or Round of Eight reset points). In 2016, the Chase for the Championship, formerly known as the Challenger, Contender, and Eliminator round, were changed to a Round of 16, Round of 12, and Round of 8. ** Round of 16 (Races 27–29) *** Begins with 16 drivers, each with 2,000 points, plus a 3-point bonus for each win in the first 26 races ** Round of 12 (Races 30–32) *** Begins with 12 drivers, each with 3,000 points ** Round of 8 (Races 33–35) *** Begins with eight drivers, each with 4,000 points ** Championship 4 (final race) *** The last four drivers in contention for the season title start the race with 5,000 points, with the highest finisher in the race winning the Cup Series title. No bonus points are awarded for laps led or most laps led for these four drivers. If one of the Championship Four drivers wins the race, the maximum points they can get is 40. To encourage continued competition among all drivers, a number of awards are given to drivers finishing outside the Chase. The highest finishing non-Chase driver (13th place at the end of the season from 2007 to 2013 and potentially anywhere from fifth to 17th place starting in 2014) is awarded a bonus of approximately one million dollars and was originally given a position on stage at the post-season awards banquet. The awards banquet now focuses solely on the Chase, with all of the series' sponsored and contingency awards moved to a luncheon at Cipriani the day before the banquet. This playoff system was implemented primarily to make the points race more competitive late in the season, and indirectly, to increase television ratings during the NFL season, which starts around the same time as the Chase begins. The Chase also forces teams to perform at their best during all three stages of the season, the first half of the regular season, the second half of the regular season, and the Chase. Previously, the champion could have been determined before the last race, or even several races before the end of the season, because it was mathematically impossible for any other driver to gain enough points to overtake the leader.

Monster Energy

The title sponsorship with Sprint ended after the 2016 season. On December 1, 2016, NASCAR announced it had reached an agreement with

to become the new sponsor of NASCAR's premier series. On December 19, 2016, NASCAR announced the new name for the series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as well as the new series logo and new NASCAR logo. On April 11, 2018, Monster Energy announced an extension of their sponsorship of the series through the end of the 2019 season. In 2017, stage racing was introduced. Races were broken up into three stages, four in the case of the NASCAR Cup Series' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600. A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then a yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points, 10 points to the winner, 9 points for the 2nd place car, down to 1 point for the 10th place car. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that is added to their point total, after the reset, if they get into the NASCAR playoffs. The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out championship points to all drivers) usually equals the other half. Also, a regular season points championship is awarded to the driver who scored the most points in the first 26 races (regular season). This championship does not award any bonus points to the winning driver. Otherwise, the points system and playoff format remained the same. The MENCS trophy was in the form of a chalice that stood at three feet tall and weighed 68 lbs. Made of machined aluminum and taking over 300 hours of craftsmanship, the trophy's exterior was decorated with the outlines of all 23 NASCAR Cup Series tracks. The cup portion was said to hold approximately 600 ounces of liquids, or 37 cans of Monster Energy.

NASCAR Cup Series

Beginning with the 2020 season NASCAR's top level of competition became known as the NASCAR Cup Series. As part of a tiered sponsorship model, Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, GEICO, and Xfinity became the Premier Partners of the series, with Coca-Cola also assuming naming rights of the regular season trophy. The MENCS trophy design was retained under the new series name, though it was renamed the Bill France Cup.

Drivers' Championship

The NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the Chairman of NASCAR to the most successful Cup Series driver over a season, as determined by a points system based on race results and victories. First awarded in 1949 to Red Byron, 32 different drivers have won the Championship. The first driver to win multiple Championships was

Herb Thomas Herbert Watson Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racing, stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion. Background Born in the sm ...

in 1951 and 1953, while the record for the most Championships, seven, is shared by

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "the King", is an American former stock car racing driver who competed from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most nota ...

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

and

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

. Johnson has the record for most consecutive Championships; he won five Championships from

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. So far every Champion has originated from the United States.

Owners' Championship

The Cup Series Owner's Championship operates in the same manner as the Driver's Championship, except that points are awarded to each individual car. If an owner enters more than one car, each car is viewed and scored as a separate entity. The points in the Owners Championship is identical to the Drivers' list, with one minor exception: Drivers who are not eligible to earn points toward the Drivers' title can still earn points toward the Owners' Championship. An example of this occurred in the first race under the current points system, the 2011 Daytona 500. Under another rule newly implemented for the 2011 season, drivers are only allowed to earn drivers' points in one of NASCAR's three national series.

Trevor Bayne Trevor Mitchell Bayne (born February 19, 1991) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, Dirt track racing, dirt racing driver, team owner, and businessman. He is currently a pit reporter for NASCAR on Prime Video, ''NASCAR ...

, who won the race, did not earn any drivers' points because he chose to run for the

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

championship. However, he earned 47 owner's points for

Wood Brothers Racing Wood Brothers Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 1950 by brothers Ray Lee, Clay, Delano, Glen Wood, Glen, and Leonard Wood (racing), Leonard Wood. To ...

(43 base points, three bonus points for the win, and one bonus point for leading a lap). Before a major change to the points system was implemented in 2011, there was a slightly different addition to the system of allocating owner's points. If more than 43 cars attempted to qualify for a race, owner's points were awarded to each car in the following manner: the fastest non-qualifier (in essence, 44th position) received 31 points, three points fewer than the car in the 43rd position. If more than one car did not qualify, owners' points continued to be assigned in the manner described, decreasing by three for each position. Under the post-2010 point system, only cars that actually start in a given race earn owner's points. There is a separate "Chase for the Championship" for the owners' points. A 2005 rule change in NASCAR's three national series, revoked from 2013 onward, affects how the owner's points are used. Through the 2012 season, the top 35 (NASCAR Cup Series) or top 30 (other series) full-time teams in owner points are awarded exemptions for the next race, guaranteeing them a position in that race. These points determine who is in and who is out of the next race and have become crucial since the exemption rule was changed to its current format. At the end of each season, the top 35 contenders in owner's points are also locked into the first five races of the next season. Beginning in 2013, the rules reverted to a system more similar to the pre-2005 rules. In the NASCAR Cup Series, the first 36 places in the field are determined strictly by qualifying speed. The next six places are awarded on owner points, with the final place reserved for a past Series Champion. If the final exemption is not used because all past Champions are already in the field, it will pass to another car based on the number of owner points. In some circumstances, a team's owners' points will differ from the corresponding driver's points. In 2005, after owner Jack Roush fired

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

during the next-to-last race weekend of the season, the No. 97 team finished in eighth place in owner's points, while Busch ended up tenth in driver's points. In 2023, after

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Hendrick Mo ...

was injured, his No. 9 car continued to earn owner points during his absence, which ultimately culminated in a playoff berth in owners points, though Elliott himself didn’t make the playoffs as a driver. The team finished 10th and Elliott finished 17th.

Manufacturers' Championship

A Manufacturer's Championship is awarded each year, although the Driver's Championship is considered more prestigious. In the past, manufacturer's championships were prestigious because of the number of manufacturers involved, and the manufacturer's championship was a major marketing tool. In the Xfinity Series, the championship is known as the Bill France Performance Cup. Up to the 2013 season, points were scored in a 1960–1990 Formula One system, with the winner's manufacturer scoring nine points, six for the next manufacturer, four for the manufacturer third among makes, three for the fourth, two for the fifth, and one point for the sixth positioned manufacturer. This meant that if Chevrolets placed first through tenth in a given race and a Ford was 11th and a Dodge 12th, Chevrolet earned 9 points, Ford 6 and Dodge 4. Starting in 2014, NASCAR changed the system to mimic the Owner's Championship. Under this system, each manufacturer's best finishing representative effectively earned them the same number of points as that team earned, including any bonus points from leading a lap or winning the event.

Representation

In NASCAR's earliest years, there was a diverse array of machinery, with little support from the car companies themselves, but by the mid-1960s, participation was exclusively American manufacturers with factory support. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were the primary, if not only, competitors for much of NASCAR's history. Plymouth, while somewhat successful in the 1960s with the Hemi, never won a Manufacturers Championship until Ford pulled out of racing in the early 1970s. GM was still using four different brands in NASCAR in 1991, but within three years, Buick and Oldsmobile were gone. Pontiac survived until 2004, leaving only Chevrolet. 2007 saw the first new brand since 1971, when Japanese manufacturer Toyota joined. Chrysler's Dodge brand returned after a 15-year hiatus in 2001, but departed after 2012, leaving just Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. Chevrolet has been the most successful manufacturer as of 2023, with 851 race wins and 42 manufacturers championships. Ford ranks second with 728 victories and 17 manufacturers championships. Dodge is third in wins with 217 and two manufacturers championships (albeit no longer in NASCAR), Plymouth fourth with 191 with one manufacturer championship (albeit no longer in NASCAR), Toyota fifth with 180 wins and three manufacturers championships, and Pontiac sixth with 154 and one manufacturer championship (albeit no longer in NASCAR).

Cup cars

Cup Series cars (often called "Cup cars") adhere to a front engine

rear-wheel-drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-whee ...

design. A

roll cage A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, pa ...

serves as a

space frame In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure (Three-dimensional space, 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometry, geometric pattern. Space frames can ...

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

and is covered by a 24-gauge

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...

body. They have a closed cockpit, fenders, a rear spoiler, and an aerodynamic splitter. Fielding a car for one season usually costs $10–20 million. Each team may build its own cars and engines (per NASCAR's specifications) or purchase cars and engines from other teams. The cars are powered by EFI V8 engines since 2012 after 62 years using carburetion as engine fuel feed with compacted graphite iron blocks and pushrod

valvetrain A valvetrain is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) into the combu ...

s actuating two-valves per cylinder, and are limited to 358 cubic inches' (about 5.8 liters)

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

. However, modern technology has allowed power outputs near or over in unrestricted form; while retaining the same basic engine design. In fact, before NASCAR instituted the gear rule, Cup engines were capable of operating more than 10,000 rpm. A NASCAR Cup Series engine with the maximum bore of and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

of at 9,000 rpm has a mean piston speed of 80.44 fps (24.75 m/s). Contemporary Cup engines run 9,800 rpm, 87.59 fps (26.95 m/s), at the road course events, on

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

's long front stretch, and at

(a .526-mile short-track). At the backbone 1.5- to 2.0-mile tri-oval tracks of NASCAR, the engines produce well over 850 hp running 9,200–9,400 rpm for 500 miles, 600 mi for the Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte race. The current NASCAR Cup engines curb weight is roughly at . The front suspension is a double wishbone design, while the rear suspension was previously a two-link

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle, or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically, they have a ...

design utilizing trailing arms until the 2022 debut of the NASCAR Next Gen Car at the Busch Lite Clash at the Coliseum, which featured the debut of the cars in their first competition and feature fully independent front and rear suspensions with double wishbones and adjustable inboard shocks. Brake rotors must be made of magnetic cast iron or steel and may not exceed 12.72 inches (32.3 centimeters) in diameter. The only aerodynamic components on the vehicles are the front splitter,

spoiler Spoiler or Spoilers may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Spoiler (media), something that reveals significant plot elements * The Spoiler, DC Comics superheroine Stephanie Brown Film and television * ''Spoiler'' (film), 1998 American ...

NACA duct A NACA duct, also sometimes called a NACA scoop or NACA inlet, is a common form of low- drag air inlet design, originally developed by the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA, in 1945. Design Prior su ...

s in the windows only, and side skirts. While the use of rear diffusers,

vortex generator A vortex generator (VG) is an aerodynamic device, consisting of a small wikt:vane, vane usually attached to a lifting surface (or airfoil, such as an aircraft, aircraft wing) or a rotor blade of a wind turbine.canards, wheel well vents, hood vents, and undertrays was strictly prohibited into the Gen 6 era, the now-current Next Gen car features a rear diffuser similar to the diffusers used in NASCAR sister organization

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

's GT Daytona class. While the cars may reach speeds of about on certain tracks, Russ Wicks drove a modified

Dodge Charger The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over eight generations since 1966. The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version. In the United Sta ...

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses. It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southe ...

, built to NASCAR's specifications, during a speed record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in October 2007. NASCAR Cup Series engines carry a Freescale-provided electronic control unit, but traction control and anti-lock brakes are prohibited. Live

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

is used only for television broadcasts, but the data can be recorded from the ECU to the computer if the car is in the garage and not on the track. Cup cars are required to have at least one working windshield wiper installed on the car for the road courses ( Sonoma, Watkins Glen,

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

, and the road course layout at the

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

and

, as well at Daytona in 2021) as part of the road racing rules package.

Evolution of Cup cars

Generation 1 (1948–1964)

When the series was formed under the name ''strictly stock'', the cars were just that: production vehicles with no modifications allowed. The term ''

'' implied that the vehicles racing were unmodified street cars. Drivers would race with factory installed

bench seat A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a benc ...

s and

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

s still in the cars. To prevent broken glass from getting on the race track, windows would be rolled down, external lights would be removed or taped over, and

side-view mirror A side-view mirror (or side mirror), also known as a door mirror and often (in the UK) called a wing mirror, is a mirror placed on the exterior of motor vehicles for the purposes of helping the driver see areas behind and to the sides of the ...

s would be removed. The 1957 fuel injected 150 model Chevrolet (known as "the black widow") was the first car to be outlawed by NASCAR. The 1957 Chevrolet won the most races, with 59 wins, more than any car to ever race in the cup series. Before the mid-1960s, cars were typically based on full sized cars such as the

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

and

Ford Galaxie The Ford Galaxie is a car that was marketed by Ford in North America from the 1959 to 1974 model years. Deriving its nameplate from a marketing tie-in with the excitement surrounding the Space Race, the Galaxie was offered as a sedan within the ...

Generation 2 (1965–1980)

In 1965, modified chassis came to the sport.

Mid-size car Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in ...

s including the Ford Fairlane and

Plymouth Belvedere The Plymouth Belvedere is a series of United States, American automobile models made by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth from 1954 until 1970. The Belvedere name was first used for a new hardtop body style in the Plymouth Cranbrook line for the ...

were adopted and soon became the norm. NASCAR once enforced a

homologation Homologation (Greek language, Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would n ...

rule that at various times stated that at least 500 cars had to be produced, or as many as one car for every make's dealership in the nation had to be sold to the general public to allow it to be raced. Eventually, cars were made expressly for NASCAR competition, including the

Ford Torino Talladega The Ford Torino Talladega is a muscle car that was produced by Ford only during the first few weeks of 1969. It was named for the Talladega Superspeedway, which opened the same year. The Talladega was a special, more aerodynamic version of the ...

, which had a rounded nose, and the Dodge Charger Daytona and

Plymouth Superbird The Plymouth Superbird is a highly modified, short-lived version of the Plymouth Road Runner with applied graphic images as well as a distinctive horn sound, both referencing the popular ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon character Road Runner. It was th ...

which had a rear wing raised above roof level and a shark shaped nose-cap which enabled race speeds of exactly 200 mph. The Ford-based Mercury Spoiler powered by a Ford Boss 429 engine was timed at 199.6 mph. Beginning in 1971, NASCAR rewrote the rules to effectively force the Ford and Chrysler specialty cars (nicknamed the Aero Warriors) out of competition by limiting them to 305ci (5.0L). The cars affected by this rule include the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Dodge Charger 500, Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird. This rule was so effective in limiting performance that only one car that season ever attempted to run in this configuration. Beginning in August 1970, NASCAR handicapped engines over with a

restrictor plate A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to li ...

. NASCAR phased in a rule to lower the maximum

engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as an indicator of the ...

from to . In 1974, maximum

was increased from 430 cubic inches to 433 cubic inches. In 1975, NASCAR reduced the maximum small block

from to its present . The transition was not complete until 1977 and coincided with American manufacturers ending factory support of racing and the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

Generation 3 (1981–1991)

RichmondInternationalRacewayHalfMilePitLane1985

The downsizing of American cars in the late 1970s presented a challenge for NASCAR. Rules mandated a minimum wheelbase of , but after 1979, none of the models approved for competition met the standard, as mid-sized cars now typically had wheelbases between 105 and 112 inches. After retaining the older models (1977 for the GM makes, and 1979 for Ford and Dodge) through 1980, for the 1981 season the wheelbase requirement was reduced to , which the newer model cars could be stretched to meet without affecting their appearance. The

Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. Serving as the premium mid-size/intermediate car of the Buick product range for nearly its entire production, the Regal initially served as the divisional counterpart of t ...

with its swept-back "shovel" nose initially dominated competition, followed by the rounded, aerodynamic 1983

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company for model years 1955 to 2005, with a hiatus from 1998 to 2001. Ultimately gaining a broadly used colloquial nickname, the ''T-Bird'', Ford Introduce ...

. The

Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the Monte Carlo, city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car ...

and

Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 as coupes and from 1989 through 2008 model years as four-door sedans. First introduced as a full-size car, full ...

adopted bubble back windows to stay competitive. Amid its financial woes, and after dropping its poor performing (both on the race track and for consumer sales) Dodge Mirada and Chrysler Cordoba in 1983,

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

left NASCAR entirely at the end of the 1985 season. DarrellWaltrip17car1989

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

marked a milestone for NASCAR Cup Series cars. During Winston 500 qualifying,

established a world stock-car record when he posted a speed of . Then the unfortunate happened; during the 22nd lap of the race, driver

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (December 3, 1937 – November 9, 2024) was an American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant ...

suffered a flat tire in the middle of Talladega Superspeedway's

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

. Allison's car hit the

catch fence The following is a glossary of terminology used in motorsport, along with explanations of their meanings. 0–9 ;1–2 finish: When two vehicles from the same team finish first and second in a race. Can be extended to 1–2–3 or 1–2–3– ...

and tore a hole in the fence approximately long. Several spectators were injured in the accident, including one woman who lost an eye. In the aftermath of the crash, NASCAR mandated the use of a restrictor plate at Talladega Superspeedway and

to reduce speeds. By 1989, GM had switched its mid-sized models to V6 engines and front-wheel-drive, but the NASCAR racers only kept the body shape, with the old V8 rear-wheel-drive running gear, rendering obsolete the "stock" nature of the cars.

Generation 4 (1992–2007)

1992 marked the beginning of the generation that stripped all semblance of "stock" from "stock car racing," the Generation 4 car. Stock body panels were removed from the sport, and steel bumpers were replaced by fiberglass to reduce weight. In 1994, roof flaps were added to all cars after Rusty Wallace's two infamous airborne crashes in 1993. In 1995, the newly designed Chevrolet Monte Carlo returned to the sport, which started the trend of rounder body shapes. When the

was retired after 1997, without Ford having any two-door intermediate bodies, the four-door

Ford Taurus The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from 1985 to 2019. From 1985 to 2009, Ford marketed the Taurus alongside its rebadged variant, the Mercury Sable. Four generati ...

body was used (although NASCAR racers actually have no opening doors). Nascar Green Flag and Sonoma Raceway 2 photo Don Ramey Logan

While the manufacturers and models of automobiles used in racing were named for production cars ( Dodge Charger R/T, Chevrolet Impala SS,

Toyota Camry The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Cam ...

, and the Ford Fusion), the similarities between NASCAR Cup Series cars and actual production cars were limited to a small amount of shaping and painting of the nose, headlight and tail light

decal A decal (, , ) or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper, or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for '' decalc ...

s, and grill areas. Until 1998, the hood, roof, and decklid were still required to be identical to their stock counterparts. This was eliminated when NASCAR allowed significant modifications of the Ford Taurus decklid so the car would fit the required templates. Carl_EdwardsTexasMotorSpeedway

It was in this time that NASCAR engaged in the practice of mandating rule changes during the season if one particular car model became overly dominant. This often led to claims that some teams would attempt sandbagging to receive more favorable handicaps. Because of the notorious manner of the

race car and how the manufacturer turned the car into an "offset" car (the car was notoriously

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

in race trim because of its oval shape), NASCAR ended this practice to put more emphasis on parity and based new body rules in 2003, similar to short track racing, where offset cars had become a burden for race officials, resulting in the "Approved Body Configuration" (also known as "common template") design.

Car of Tomorrow (2007–2012)

In 2007, NASCAR introduced a radically new vehicle specification known as the "Car of Tomorrow" (CoT). The CoT made its debut at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

in March 2007. Initially, it was only used at 16 selected events.NASCAR.com
"Harvick pleased after testing Car of Tomorrow" Retrieved August 29, 2005 While NASCAR had originally planned to wait until the start of the 2009 season to use the CoT in every race, the date was changed to the start of the 2008 season. Many drivers still had complaints about the CoT, but this new timeline was intended to help teams save money by giving them only one car specification to work on. The design of the CoT has focused on cost control, parity, and driver safety. The car's width was increased by , the bumpers were re-designed to render bump and run tactics less effective, and the height of the car has increased by to accommodate taller drivers and increase

aerodynamic drag In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers, two solid surfaces, or b ...

. The driver's seat was moved closer to the center of the car. The change most notable to fans was the addition of a rear wing replacing the familiar

. The wings could be adjusted between 0 and 16 degrees and used with multiple configurations of end plates. The new rules eliminated the asymmetrical bodies on cars, which had run rampant since the 1998 Taurus launch (and intensified by the final years of the Generation 4 car). However, almost all advantages of using one car over another have been nullified. NASCAR requires all CoTs to conform to common body templates, regardless of make and model. The rear wing remained a controversial feature for a few years. Its appearance was often criticized, and it was accused of forcing cars to become airborne in high-speed spins such as the one experienced by Carl Edwards during the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. In 2010 NASCAR decided to replace the wing with the original spoiler. The switch began with the

2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 The 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia was the sixth race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. It was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. EDT on March 28, 2010, but due to rain it ran on Mar ...

. In 2011, NASCAR altered the nose of the car once more, with the splitter being reduced in size and the braces being replaced by a solid front valence. A major engine change occurred in 2012 with NASCAR's introduction of

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

technology. Initially NASCAR indicated that it would transition to fuel injection midway through the 2011 season but decided before that season to put off the change until 2012.

Generation 6 car (2013–2021)

In 2013, manufacturers were given increased leeway for branding their NASCAR Cup Series cars, creating the Generation 6 race car. These changes were made so the cars would resemble their street counterparts more closely, as was done in the Xfinity Series in 2011. All NASCAR Cup Series cars began utilizing a digital dash sold by

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

in 2016. This dash includes sixteen customizable preset screens, allowing the driver to monitor all the previous info with several additional elements such as lap time and engine diagnostics, for a total of twenty-four data elements. Information can be displayed as a gauge, numeral, bar graph or LED. Having mostly competed with cars based on sedan models during the generation's life, the sales decline of sedans in American car market resulted in return of

pony car Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short deck, bucket seats ...

s (and thus, coupe-based models) to the Cup Series as Chevrolet switched to the

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

in 2018, followed by Ford switching to the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...

the following year.

Next Gen (2022–present)

In 2022, NASCAR introduced an all new, seventh-generation car named the Next Gen. A further evolution of the Generation 6 car, the Next Gen will feature improved

aero Aero is a Greek prefix relating to flight and air. In British English, it is used as an adjective related to flight (e.g., as a shortened substitute for aeroplane). Aero, Ærø, or Aeros may refer to: Aeronautics Airlines and companies * Aero (A ...

and downforce packages while introducing new technologies (such as center lock wheels and rear diffusers, technologies used in road racing cars) on the track. In addition, the Next Gen car is meant to lower costs and attract new original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to compete with Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota. In 2023, a heavily modified Next Gen Camaro fielded by

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

entered the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it finished 39th out of the 62 cars entered in the event.

Setup

The automobiles' suspension, brakes, and aerodynamic components are also selected to tailor the cars to different racetracks. A car that understeers is said to be "tight", or "pushing", causing the car to keep going up the track with the wheel turned all the way left, while one that oversteers is said to be "loose" or "free", causing the back end of the car to slide around, which can result in the car spinning out if the driver is not careful. The adjustment of front and rear aerodynamic downforce, spring rates, track bar geometry, brake proportioning, the wedge (also known as cross-weight), changing the camber angle, and changing the air pressure in the tires can all change the distribution of forces among the tires during cornering to correct for handling problems. Recently, coil bind setups have become popular among teams. These characteristics are also affected by tire stagger (tires of different circumference at different positions on the car, the right rear having the most influence in left turns) and rubber compounds used in tire construction. These settings are determined by NASCAR and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Goodyear engineers and may not be adjusted by individual teams. Changing weather conditions may also affect a car's handling. In a long race, it is sometimes advantageous to prepare a car to handle well at the end of an event while surrendering the advantage of speed at the start. On oval races, rain forces a race to be halted immediately. NASCAR had developed rain tires for Cup Series road racing as early as late 1990s, but initially abandoned them because there at the time were not enough road courses on the schedule to justify the cost of making more tires to replace them as they aged. The first in-race use of rain tires in the Cup Series were at the 2020 Bank of America Roval 400 and the 2021 Texas Grand Prix. Prior to these, 1956 International Stock Car Road Race, a 1956 race at Road America was held in rain; Tim Flock won the race.

Cup tracks

Presently, the NASCAR Cup Series is held mainly in eastern states, with only seven tracks located west of the Mississippi River. Cup Series races are not conducted on standardized tracks; the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series, 2024 season included 31 races at Oval track racing, oval tracks and 5 at road courses. The lap length of the oval tracks vary from at

to at Talladega Superspeedway. The majority of the oval tracks are paved with Asphalt concrete, asphalt, while 3 tracks are wholly or partially paved with concrete. Although the series historically raced on dirt tracks, it ceased to do so for more than 50 years after the 1970 season. In 2021, dirt racing returned to the schedule with a March event at

While some tracks are true ovals, such as

, over half the tracks currently in Cup competition are a form of

. Other configurations include

's characteristic uneven "egg" shape, the triangular

, and the rectangle of

. While NASCAR is known for primarily running counter-clockwise on oval tracks, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International are complex road courses which are raced clockwise. The series' first road course event was held in 1954, at Linden Airport in New Jersey. Since 1963, the series has raced on at least one road course every year. Courses have a wide range of Banked turn, banking in the corners. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with 7 degrees of banking, has the flattest corners, while the steepest banking is Talladega Superspeedway's 33 degrees. Tracks also vary in amount of banking on the straightaways, from entirely flat on many courses to 9 degrees at Dover International Speedway. Bill Elliott 200 mph

Race speeds vary widely depending on the track. The fastest track is Talladega Superspeedway, where the record average speed is and the record qualifying lap is , set by

in 1987. The record stands unlikely to be broken, as

s were made mandatory at superspeedways in 1988 to reduce speeds, and the plates were then replaced in 2019 by tapered spacers which still reduced enough horsepower to prevent cars from going beyond speed of 205 mph. The slowest tracks are Sonoma Raceway, a road course with a record average speed of only and a record qualifying lap of , and Martinsville Speedway, a short, nearly flat "paper clip" oval, with a record average speed of and a record qualifying lap of . The average speed of a race is determined by dividing the winner's race time (from the waving of the Green flag (motorsport), green flag to the waving of the checkered flag, including laps spent under caution) by the distance of the race. Time elapsed during Red flag (motorsport), red flag periods is not included in the calculation of the average speed.

Notes

References

External links

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Racing Reference
{{Class of Auto racing NASCAR Cup Series, Recurring sporting events established in 1949 Stock car racing series in the United States 1949 establishments in the United States