The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) makes and enforces numerous rules and regulations that transcend all racing series.
NASCAR issues a different rule book for each racing series; however, rule books are published exclusively for NASCAR members and are not made available to the public. Still, many of the rules, such as the scoring system, have been widely publicized both by NASCAR and the media.
Car livery Each car is required to display its number on each door of the car and on its roof. The front of the car and bottom of the rear bumper are required to match the decal specifications of the car manufacturer. Each car was until recently required to display a series of around 30 NASCAR sponsor decals just to the left of each door and on the front fenders, but recent developments have reduced the amount of decals significantly to only a handful. These contingency decals represent series sponsors and bonus money teams are eligible to earn during the race, but may be omitted in the event in which they conflict with the team's sponsors or moral beliefs. The series sponsor's logo is displayed on top of the windshield, called the windshield header or windshield banner.
Beginning in 2013, the livery layout for the NASCAR Cup Series was altered, coinciding with the change to the Generation 6 model car. In lieu of the series sponsor like in lower series, the windshield prominently features the last name of the driver (as well as first name or first initial in the case of siblings and family members, as was the case for both Busch brothers, or suffixes for drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr.) placed in the center of the windshield header. Logos of the manufacturer are placed on each corner of the upper windshield. Number and sponsor logos were barred from being placed on the headlights and taillights, as not to obstruct each car model's unique characteristics. A new location for a single sponsor logo, however, was added to the rear of the roof adjacent to the number. In 2014, a new layout was created for participants in the NASCAR Chase for the Championship, requiring the cars to feature yellow roof numbers, front splitters and front fascias. The background of the windshield header would also be colored yellow, with the driver's name displayed in black lettering. A new Chase for the Championship logo would replace the normal NASCAR Cup Series logo in the contingency group. A decal would also be placed next to the driver's name above the door to signify each win a driver earned that season. For 2015, the liveries of the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series would feature the driver's last name on the upper rear window. During the Monster Energy Cup Series era from 2017 to 2019, the Monster Energy logo was on the front windshield with the driver name moving to the rear windshield; this was replaced with the Cup Series logo for 2020 after Monster Energy's sponsorship ended, before NASCAR reinstated the driver name the following season (the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series continued carrying the series title sponsor on the windshield, a practice that began with the Nationwide Series era in 2008 and the birth of the Truck series respectively; drivers running points for Xfinity Series also carry their names on the cars' front windshields in that series). In 2022, with the introduction of the Next Gen model car for the Cup Series, the door number was moved forward on all cars, taking the space formerly occupied by the contingency decals, and the driver name on the front windshield was shifted to the right (the same position as on Xfinity driver windshields for points-eligible drivers) to make room for a cooling duct on the center of the car's windshield, following heat complaints from drivers.
Outside of these requirements, teams may design the car and place sponsor logos in NASCAR-approved locations, and must submit all paint and graphics schemes and all sponsor identity to NASCAR in advance for approval. One paint scheme requirement for example is that both the driver and passenger side of the car must share the same color pattern, though the front and rear may be different colors. This safety rule, to avoid confusion for spotters, NASCAR officials, and other drivers, was brought into light in October 2014 at Talladega, when Terry Labonte's Go Fas Racing team painted his 32 car in two different color schemes as a tribute to the two-time champion, but prior to NASCAR approval. NASCAR allowed the team to retain the scheme for knock-out qualifying, but forced them to match the two sides for the race. However, by 2016, it seems that NASCAR has either quietly removed this rule or allowed teams to race with a split-side scheme as long as they got the permission to do so, as seen with John Hunter Nemechek's No. 8 truck in the 2016 American Ethanol E15 225 and both the 3 and 31 cars of RDV Compétition during the 2016 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Teams apply to NASCAR for the use of a car number, and pay for the rights to the number's likeness. NASCAR legally owns and controls all rights to car numbers. When drivers change teams, the team owner usually retains the number. Unlike in other series, such as the former IROC Series, there is no provision for the defending series champion or the points leader to adopt car number 1; it is available to any team. Only one number, No. 61, in the Whelen Modified Tour, has been retired, in memory of nine-time series champion Richie Evans, who was killed at Martinsville Speedway practicing for the final race of the 1985 season. Other historically significant numbers have been ceremoniously retired, except with the permission of the driver or team owner. The number 3 for example, used by Dale Earnhardt and his car owner Richard Childress, has been unofficially retired for all teams and drivers except for an Earnhardt or Childress family member (Kaz Grala became the first driver who was not part of either family to drive a number 3 car when Austin Dillon missed the 2020 Go Bowling 235 due to a positive COVID-19 test), with Childress paying a licensing fee while the number was out of circulation from 2001 to 2013. In other instances, a number has been relinquished due to a sponsor leaving a team. After the 2002 season, Robert Yates Racing switched from their longtime number 28 to 38 after sponsor Texaco-Havoline ceased their sponsorship.
Teams can run numbers from 0 to 99 (as well as 00 to 09), but no two cars can display the same number during a race. Scoring computers will allow 00 to 09, but teams with such numbers are listed as 100 to 109 for scoring purposes (to ensure "107" is not the same as "7", for example). Except for those numbers (which have been used for full-time teams), part-time teams may be assigned a three-digit number for championship owner points purposes only (such as Nos. 141 and 241). If two such teams arrive with the same two digit number, the team higher in championship points prevails, and the other team will be forced to change their number for the race. The rule is different in combination races when two series race in the same event, where in that situation qualifying determines which team keeps their number.
Sponsorship
Tobacco Although NASCAR has a long history of tobacco sponsorship, following the 2003 season, longtime NASCAR partner R. J. Reynolds declined to renew their Winston sponsorship of the Cup Series, replaced by Nextel. In June 2010, the Food and Drug Administration passed new regulations preventing sponsorship for cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products in any sporting event, including auto racing events. The announcement affected two teams: the No. 33 Truck of Ron Hornaday Jr. and Kevin Harvick Incorporated lost its Longhorn Moist Snuff sponsorship, while the No. 27 Nationwide Series car of Baker Curb Racing lost its Red Man sponsorship. Baker Curb would shut its doors the next year due to lack of sponsorship.
In spite of the legislation, tobacco sponsorship continues in the sports through electronic cigarettes, with companies such as Green Smoke, blu (owned by R. J. Reynolds), and Arrowhead sponsoring NASCAR teams. A brand of herbal smokeless tobacco, Smokey Mountain, has also sponsored drivers such as Hornaday, Johnny Sauter, Brian Scott, and Daniel Hemric. Whitetail Smokeless, a brand of chew that also offers a nicotine-free variant, has also sponsored drivers such as Jeremy Clements and Josh Bilicki.
Alcohol Until 2004, the only sponsorship permitted by alcoholic beverage manufacturers were for beer; hard liquors were not permitted. For 2005, NASCAR reversed the ban on such sponsorships, with manufacturers being obliged to put responsible drinking messages on cars sponsored by such brands (beer advertisers are not required to carry such messages, however).
Viceroy Rule
Though NASCAR typically promotes competition between multiple brands, including those that sponsor the sport and individual races, the sanctioning body provides exclusive protection to its series title sponsors (currently O'Reilly Auto Parts in the second national series and Stanley Black & Decker under its Craftsman brand for the Truck Series), as well as current fuel supplier Sunoco. This policy, known as the Viceroy Rule, prevents sponsorship from direct competitors within a certain series, although it does not prevent a company from moving to a different series within the sport, or advertising a product that does not directly conflict with the title sponsor. For example, Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco and other oil companies have been allowed to promote their motor oil brands (Pennzoil and Havoline respectively) but not their gasoline products. When a new title sponsor creates conflicts with existing team sponsors, NASCAR typically allows the team sponsors to remain under a grandfather clause. The rule is named after the British cigarette brand Viceroy, and is in reference to the 1972 USAC Championship Car season during which title sponsor Marlboro renounced its branding when Viceroy entered the sport to sponsor entries.
The rule has come into effect on several occasions, most notably when Nextel signed a ten-year $700 million deal to replace Winston as the Cup Series sponsor. Active sponsors Cingular Wireless (sponsoring Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 team) and Alltel (sponsoring Team Penske's No. 12 car of Ryan Newman) were allowed to continue their deals, but both sponsor agreements were put into question when the companies were purchased and sought re-branding. In 2004, Robby Gordon was required to wear a full color Nextel patch on his driving suit. He had worn a dark gray on black subdued Nextel patch when he was sponsored by Cingular when racing for RCR. Between 2007 and 2008, NASCAR and AT&T Mobility (the successor to Cingular) filed suits against each other, with NASCAR seeking to kick all rival telecommunications companies out of the top series. AT&T was allowed to remain in the sport until 2008 when both parties settled. Meanwhile, Verizon, after purchasing Alltel in 2008, moved its sponsorship to the Penske entries in the Xfinity Series and later the IndyCar Series, while the team ran a similar scheme in the Cup Series without Verizon branding until 2010. In a separate 2007 incident, Robby Gordon was allowed to retain his sponsorship from mobile phone manufacturer Motorola (although Nextel carried Motorola products, NASCAR blocked Gordon's sponsorship as his sponsor deal was done through Verizon) after adding logos referring to the company's "Digital Audio Players".