The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or as most of us call it, NASCAR, is quickly starting its 2016 season. If you're like me, you know the bare minimum about NASCAR. I mean everything I know doesn't exceed much farther past what I learned from "Talladega Nights." To become a little more educated before the biggest race in NASCAR (Daytona 500 in case you didn't know) I've come up with a beginners guide for NASCAR.
The first thing you need to learn is what the flags mean. You have your usual red, yellow, and red, just like a stop light, so hopefully, you can figure those out. Then you have a black flag. Whichever driver is given the black flag must respond to a concern from NASCAR. Common examples include speeding on pit road, dropping debris on the track or failing to maintain the minimum speed on the track. Drivers have five laps to respond to the black flag.
Black flags with a white diagonal stripe are shown to any driver not obeying the black flag and pitting within five laps is shown this flag, indicating scoring of the car has been suspended until further notice. A yellow flag with red horizontal stripes is waved to warn you there is debris or slippery conditions on the track. A white flag is waved to indicate the leader is on their last lap. Then they have a blue flag with a yellow diagonal stripe. If your driver sees this, it means they suck and you should start cheering for someone else. This is the courtesy flag shown to drivers, not on the lead lap. It indicates that the slower drivers should yield to the faster drivers approaching them. Then the very last one is the black and white checkered flag that is waved when the winner has crossed the finish line.
The next thing to know about is how do people get into races. I thought any professional driver could enter any race if they wanted and that was it. WRONG. For every race, there are 43 drivers. To determine this number, a qualifying session is usually held a day or two before each race. The top 43 qualifying drivers will then participate in the race. The individual who posts the fastest time in qualifying starts on the “pole.” According to Yahoo Sports, the 2016 season has 44 register drivers, so unfortunately, one person won't make the cut for the races.
Here're just a couple of other facts you need to know so you can act like you kind of know what's going on. The number that is seen after a race name isn't the amount of laps they do, the number followed is the number of miles they will be driving. Next, each driver has a pit crew of seven men that can get you back on the track and driving in about 12 seconds. According to Quicken Loans Racing, the average car has 850 horsepower behind the engine. Depending on the tracks, top speeds can reach up to 200 m.p.h. in these races.
In the end, it is a long competition of people going around and around. If you don't watch the whole race, you won't miss out on much, which is nice. You've still got plenty of time to pick a favorite driver and Google every thing about them. All you've got to do now is go to Walmart pick up a t-shirt, lawn chair, and a six pack and you look like you've been a fan all along.
