The 2023 NASCAR season has just kicked off yet again with the 56th Annual Daytona 500 race in Daytona Beach, Florida. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the trophy at this year’s Daytona 500, the longest in history. Stenhouse won in an exhilarating overtime run for the checkered flag. This year’s 75th Anniversary season is going to be an exciting one featuring some exciting, fast, competitive and hyped up racing throughout the cup, xfinity and truck series and you should tune in. 

Although NASCAR isn’t as popular in our area, it is everything to some people, especially south and west of us. In the south NASCAR is a huge sport, one of the most popular. According to Forbes NASCAR was ranked the number 1 spectator sport in America. NASCAR gathered 3.7 million viewers on average per race throughout the 2022 season. NASCAR’s season is one of the longest out of all sports, it spans from February all the way to November. This gives enthusiastic fans almost a year’s worth of nonstop racing compared to other sports which have much shorter seasons. 

NASCAR has three different series within itself. The Cup series features some of the most professional and competitive drivers. Xfinity series is NASCAR’s second tier circuit just below the Cup series featuring many young, skilled and prospective drivers. The Truck series is a little different from the other, it features drivers racing pickup trucks around the track unlike the other two. This keeps the racers and types of racing diverse and exciting throughout the season. It also gives fans weekend long excitement with the Truck Series taking place on Fridays and the Xfinity Series on Saturdays. Cup Series races run on a weekly basis throughout the season most commonly occurring on Sundays. Most people associate Sundays with the NFL but NASCAR races run almost all year long and the majority of the season is during the NFL offseason. 

The NASCAR Cup Series is the most popular and widely known due to its competitiveness and professionalism. Many fans and enthusiasts have said that it’s going to be one of the most exciting and competitive seasons NASCAR has seen in a long time. Some drivers to look out for this year are Joey Logano (2022 Cup Champ), Kyle Larson, Chase Elliot, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr and others. 

Every driver in NASCAR is assigned a racing team and drives a certain model car. Car models vary from Ford Mustangs to Chevy Camaros and Toyota Camrys. None of these cars are even close to the street model that are available for the public to purchase. These cars can reach up to 200+ mph on the track. Another exhilarating part of the races other than the speed is the eye opening wrecks that occur on the track. Luckily, drivers are very prepared for this likely event to occur and have state of the art safety and protection systems in their cars.

Overall NASCAR is one of the most unappreciated sports in the country and deserves more attention. So I invite you to check it out this year on FOX and NBC, I’m sure you will like it.