Why is NASCAR popular?

[deleted]

I'm a NASCAR fan...

No doubt the racing gets extremely intense. It's just a huge thrill to watch these guys put everything out on the line at high speeds. I don't know how else to put it.

I think the famous thing is once you've been to your first race, you're hooked - meaning once you've seen and heard the cars in person, you start to understand the thrill of it all. Sometimes you can't quite grasp all the intense speeds, how close/hard the drivers race each other, and the sounds through television.

To me, your question is no different than asking what makes baseball so popular? All it is are guys throwing and hitting a ball with a stick.

...I love baseball, I'm just saying that's what the question is like. Any sport can be simplified into its most basic terms to sound boring.

It's mostly the spectacle of the sport that makes it popular. Flashy paint schemes, loud engines, the personalities of the drivers. There's a great deal of drama, also - it's not at all uncommon to see verbal or even physical altercations between teams/drivers over something that happened on the track.
To answer why the first race is considered important, it takes place at Daytona Superspeedway, which is one of NASCAR's oldest and fastest tracks, and because it's the first race, what happens there can set the tone for the rest of the season. Many of the other races on the schedule are considered equally important - the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte is the longest race of the season. The Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis has the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway as its setting, considered hallowed ground in motorsports. The September night race in Richmond, Virginia is the last race before the Chase, otherwise known as the "playoffs".
Finally, yes, there is a huge amount of strategy involved in the sport. If you're at a larger track where drafting is a factor, you need to be willing to work with other drivers to stay competitive. The slightest change of tire pressure, shock settings, even the temperature of the track can be a major factor. Teams will usually pit four to eight times a race, so pit strategy is very important, as is communication between driver and crew. The engines aren't all the same, as you say, either. Teams build engines themselves according to their manufacturer sponsor's specifications, and the areo package is the same across the field, just like in IRL or Formula 1.

The South Park crew had an interesting answer to this question in the October 6 episode...

Well...I'm not a big fan of it or anything and I can understand on the one hand why some would fail to see and/or would question the appeal, but at the same time I think it can be just as exciting and entertaining as some other types of races, sports, or competitions. Why not?

A friend of mine summed it up nicely:
20,000 people watching 20 guys, taking 4 lefts, hoping 1 takes a right. :)


Actually, I must say, I had the opportunity to work at a Talladega Speedway event.
There really is a difference in what you see on TV vs. what you see (and feel) at the track. I'm not into racing, at all, but I can see how people get into it.

Definitely the egg salad sandwiches...

NASCAR makes these egg salad sandwiches for everybody who comes through the turnstiles. And you're thinking "I don't even like egg salad" - but you see everybody else chowing down on theirs you give it a shot - and holy crap is it awesome.

Some people just walk right back to their car and drive home.

They are that good.

It's not just driving around in circles. Driving a car that handles like a tank at 200 MPH door to door with 40 other cars going the same speed takes skill, and it's a testament to the skill of NASCAR drivers that they do make it look so easy.

Still, I can't help but think about the beginning of the movie. I know it's a farce, but a converted pit crewman getting behind the wheel for the first time going from last place to third in a restrictor plate race just by driving awesome is well, to put it simply, impossible. I know Bill Elliot once came back from five laps down to win Talladega, but that was before plates. That could never happen today.