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cameronewton · 6 years

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I want to get more into Nascar because the Cars franchise has sparked my interest. But I have absolutely no idea how to even start.. I don't know enough to know even a little.. help please??

YES, PLEASE DO JOIN US. :DDD It’s so addicting.

ADVANCE WARNING: THIS POST IS VERY LONG AND I DID NOT PUT IT UNDER A CUT.

THE SUPER BASICS:

There are three main series in NASCAR racing: the Camping World Truck Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Monster Energy Cup Series. The main one people talk about is the Cup Series, because that’s the top tier of NASCAR. There are three main manufacturers in NASCAR: Chevy, Ford, and Toyota. (There is sometimes an errant Dodge in Xfinity, leftover from an older generation.) This is important because the entire field of drivers is sort of divided into informal or formal alliances based on manufacturer. Within those manufacturers, the field is further broken down into race teams. Some of the big ones, which have historically fielded big names, are Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Penske, and Stuart-Haas Racing. All of these teams run three or more cars in a race; that is, multiple teams of driver/crew chief/spotter/pit crew/all the other crew members. There are also a lot of smaller teams that only run one car in a race.

The most important thing to remember out of all this is:

These be some numerous and colorful nyooms.

Keep that straight, and you’re golden. XD

Seriously, though. There’s a huge range of stuff to be interested in within NASCAR, and it’s all glorious, but I don’t think you need to know absolutely everything, or even grow to know absolutely everything. NOBODY in NASCAR knows everything. (Except maybe Bob Pockrass.) I’m about to write the longest tl;dr of my little Tumbling life and I should confess right now, I’m super new to NASCAR, too!

The number one thing you can do to get into NASCAR?

1. WATCH A RACE. That’s how you fall in love straightaway, tbh. For some god unknown reason I spent the first too-many months of getting into NASCAR just keeping up with the races on Twitter, and I do not Recommend. (Actually, I know the reason. I was circumnavigating the West in my car and never in one place long enough on a Sunday. Too busy driving to watch people driving. /O\ Which, don’t get me wrong, was also awesome. But I still have regrets!)

The first race I ever sat down to watch, I literally saw the last 12 laps and I have been devoutly obsessive about everything and everything’s cousin ever since.

After 12 laps.

2. Ideally, watch with friends, so you can capslock at each other and shout a lot. (HMU ANY SUNDAY, BASICALLY. JOIN USSSSS.)

3. Pick your faves. Change your faves. Add to your collection of faves.

If you can latch onto a driver or three (or thirty…), it makes a race that much more exciting because you’re invested in how they, individually, do! And it helps cut down on the sense of overwhelmingness if you can let yourself focus in on one team at first, I think.

Other than just jumping in and watching a race, there’s some cool stuff you can sample outside of Sunday afternoons, too:

Cool Stuff:

Fox Sports has a weekly segment called Radioactive that clips together a summary of the race using radio chatter (between crew chief, spotter, and drier), which is sometimes very dramatic, usually incendiary, and mostly kind of hilarious. I think it’s a great way to get a feel for the dynamics between teams, and enjoy some iconic quotes. XDD Highly HIGHLY recommend. Plus there are over a hundred of these ~5-10 minute Radioactive vids on Youtube, which is quite the library.

The NASCAR section of How Stuff Works, which can be fun to poke around in. It explains a lot of the basics, including a lot of the most important terms that announcers and teams will use to describe their cars and how they’re running on the track. It’ll tell you what “getting loose” means, how downforce works, what the flags mean, what a “stage” is, etc.

Here’s a wonderful rundown of some of the big characters in NASCAR right now (except Danica Patrick, who retired D;), written by out very own @jgrs!

This article by Joey Logano is written exactly the way Joey sounds when he talks, which I love: What You Don’t Know About Being a NASCAR Driver

Here’s the article I mentioned that made me fall in love with Jimmie Johnson, which I swear I’ve read like four times, because really excellent longford NASCAR journalism is hard to find. It’s from 2009 but it’s still Relevant, I swear.

This is probably still my all-time favorite NASCAR article, though, written by Kyle Busch: It’s about his 2015 season, which he began by crashing into a wall head-on at 90 miles an hour, crushing bones and starting fires. He came back to win the Championship.

The Untitled Jeff Gluck Podcast. Jeff Gluck is a national treasure, imma say that up front. He’s got this super humble, utterly devoted demeanor and he’s totally not afraid to offer wild projections or his opinions—even if they’re not necessarily glowing—of performances, personalities, etc. He’s smart and likable and man, he hustles. He’s got so many weekly programs and near-instantaneous coverage of all the races it’s wild. He also includes a fantastic range of guests on the show, from drivers to analysts to PR guys, etc.

Anyway.

The next Cup race is Sunday, March 11, at 3:30 Eastern. You in? :DD

(…I should also mention that yessss there is… a ~magical~ way of watching NASCAR even if you don’t get NASCAR TV channels. Just in case that was a potential deterrent.)

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