The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States.
The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, when the series began leasing its naming rights to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was referred to as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (1971–2003). A similar deal was made with Nextel in 2003, and it became the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (2004–2007). Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (2008–2016). In December 2016, it was announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor, and the series was renamed the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (2017–2019). In 2019, NASCAR rejected Monster's offer to extend the naming rights deal beyond the end of the season. NASCAR subsequently announced its move to a new tiered sponsorship model beginning with the 2020 season similar to other U.S. based professional sports leagues, where it was simply known as the NASCAR Cup Series, with the sponsors of the series being called Premier Partners. The four Premier Partners are Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, Xfinity, and Freeway Insurance.
The championship is determined by a points system, with points being awarded according to finish placement in the race and its stages. The season is divided into two segments. After the first 26 races (the regular season), 16 drivers are seeded based on their position in the points standings. They compete in the last ten races, where the difference in points is greatly minimized. This is called the NASCAR Chase.
The series holds strong roots in the Southeastern United States, with about half of the races in the 36-race season being held in that region. , the schedule includes tracks from around the United States. There have been races held outside the United States with exhibition races previously held in Japan and Australia, and races held in Montreal and Mexico City. The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race, had a television audience of about 9.17 million U.S. viewers in 2019.
History
Strictly Stock and Grand National In 1949, NASCAR introduced the Strictly Stock division, after sanctioning Modified and Roadster division races in 1948. Eight races were run on seven dirt ovals and on the Daytona Beach beach/street course."Strictly Stock Standings and Statistics for 1949" page of Racing-Reference website , retrieved May 9, 2007.
The first NASCAR "Strictly Stock" race was held at Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949. Jim Roper was declared the winner of that race after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified for having altered the rear springs on his car; the first series champion was Red Byron. The division was renamed "Grand National" for the 1950 season, reflecting NASCAR's intent to make the sport more professional and prestigious. It retained this name until 1971. The 1949 Strictly Stock season is regarded in NASCAR's record books as the first season of GN/Cup history. Martinsville Speedway is the only track on the 1949 schedule that remains on the current schedule.
Rather than having a fixed schedule of one race per weekend with most entrants appearing at every event, the Grand National schedule has included over sixty events in some years. Often there were two or three races on the same weekend and occasionally two races on the same day in different states.
In the early years, most Grand National races were held on dirt-surfaced short oval tracks that ranged in lap length from under a quarter mile to over a half mile, or on dirt fairgrounds ovals usually ranging from a half mile to a mile in lap length. Of the first 221 Grand National races, 198 were run on dirt tracks. Darlington Raceway, opened in 1950, was the first completely paved track on the circuit over long. In 1959, when Daytona International Speedway was opened, the schedule still had more races on dirt racetracks than on paved ones. In the 1960s as superspeedways were built and old dirt tracks were paved, the number of races run on dirt tracks was reduced.Fielden, Greg, "NASCAR Cleans Up", Speedway Illustrated, September 2004.
The last NASCAR Grand National race on a dirt track (until 2021) was held on September 30, 1970, at the half mile State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, North Carolina. Richard Petty won that race in a Plymouth that had been sold by Petty Enterprises to Don Robertson and rented back by Petty Enterprises for the race.
Winston Cup
Between 1971 and 2003, NASCAR's premier series was sponsored by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company cigarette brand Winston, dubbing it the Winston Cup Series. The series was originally called the Winston Cup Grand National Series before "Grand National" was dropped in 1986. In 1971, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned television advertising of cigarettes. As a result, tobacco companies began to sponsor sporting events as a way to spend their excess advertising dollars and to circumvent the ban. RJR's sponsorship became more controversial in the wake of the 1998 Tobacco Industry Settlement that sharply restricted avenues for tobacco advertising, including sports sponsorships.
The changes that resulted from RJR's involvement in the series as well as from the reduction in schedule from 48 to 31 races per year established 1972 as the beginning of NASCAR's "modern era". The season was made shorter, and the points system was modified several times during the next four years. Races on dirt tracks and on oval tracks shorter than were removed from the schedule and transferred to the short-lived NASCAR Grand National East Series, and the remaining races had a minimum prize money of $30,000. NASCAR's founder, Bill France Sr., turned over control of NASCAR to his oldest son, Bill France Jr. In August 1974, France Jr. asked series publicist Bob Latford to design a points system with equal points being awarded for all races regardless of length or prize money.Mitchell, Jason, "How Do They Do That?: Winston Cup Point System", Stock Car Racing (ISSN 0734-7340), Volume 36, Number 10, October 2001. This system ensured that the top drivers would have to compete in all the races in order to become the series champion. This system remained unchanged from 1975 until the Chase for the Championship was instituted in 2004.
Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the first non-exhibition race of the year.
ABC Sports aired partial or full live telecasts of Grand National races from Talladega, North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Charlotte, and Nashville in 1970. Because these events were perceived as less exciting than many Grand National races, ABC abandoned its live coverage. Races were instead broadcast, delayed and edited, on the ABC sports variety show Wide World of Sports.Fielden, Greg. NASCAR Chronicle. Publications International, Ltd., Lincolnwood, Illinois, USA, 2006. p. 36.
In 1979, the Daytona 500 became the first stock car race that was nationally televised live from flag to flag on CBS. The leaders going into the last lap, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, wrecked on the backstretch while dicing for the lead, allowing Petty to pass them both for the win. Immediately, Yarborough, Allison, and Allison's brother Bobby were engaged in a fistfight on national television. This underlined the drama and emotion of the sport and increased its broadcast marketability. The race coincided with a major snowstorm along the United States' eastern seaboard, successfully introducing the sport to a captive audience.
In 1981, an awards banquet began to be held in New York City on the first Friday evening in December. The first banquets were held in the Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Room and in 1985 were moved to the much larger Grand Ballroom. For 2001, the banquet portion was dropped in favor of a simpler awards ceremony, which was also moved to the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center the following year. However, in 2003, the festivities returned to the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, and the banquet format was reinstated.
In 1985, Winston introduced a new awards program called the Winston Million. From 1985 to 1997, any driver who won three of the four most prestigious races in the series was given one million dollars. The prize was only won twice; Bill Elliott won in 1985, Darrell Waltrip nearly won in 1989, Davey Allison nearly won in 1992, Dale Jarrett nearly won in 1996, and Jeff Gordon won in 1997.DarlingtonRaceway.com "Darlington Legends: Million Dollar Bill" Retrieved 7/5/09 The Winston Million was replaced with a similar program, the Winston No Bull Five, in 1998. This program awarded one million dollars to any driver who won a prestigious race after finishing in the top five of the most previous prestigious races.TheAutoChannel.com "Winston to Substitute "No Bull 5" for "Winston Million"" Retrieved 7/5/09
The series underwent a large boom in popularity in the 1990s.Autoracing1.com "NASCAR's Greatest Moments – Part 3" Retrieved March 12, 2009 In 1994, NASCAR held the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Between 1997 and 1998, the winner's prize money for the Daytona 500 tripled. This coincided with a decline of popularity in American Championship Car Racing.
In 1999, NASCAR made a new agreement with Fox Broadcasting, Turner Broadcasting, and NBC. The contract, signed for eight years for Fox and six years for NBC and Turner, was valued at $2.4 billion.Forbes.com "NASCAR Pulls into Prime Time" Retrieved August 22, 2009
In 2001, Pixar visited NASCAR tracks as research for the 2006 animated film Cars, which included the voices of Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jr. To avoid advertising tobacco in a Disney film, "Piston Cup" served as Pixar's allusion to the Winston Cup (however, by the time the film came out, Nextel had replaced Winston as the series title sponsor).
Nextel and Sprint
During the 2002 season, R.J. Reynolds notified NASCAR leadership that they would terminate their title sponsorship prematurely at the conclusion of the 2003 season. NASCAR negotiated a contract with Nextel, a telecommunications company to replace Winston, and in 2004 the series became known as the Nextel Cup Series.
The 2006 merger between Sprint and Nextel resulted in the Cup Series being renamed the Sprint Cup, beginning with the 2008 season.
The Sprint Cup trophy was designed by Tiffany & Co. and is silver, with a pair of checkered flags in flight.Racingone.com, "Nextel Cup Unveiled" Retrieved 8–4–08
By 2009, the popularity boom of the 1990s had ended, and television ratings over the previous ten years had become more or less stagnant. Some long-time fans have criticized the series for losing its traditional appeal because of abandoning venues in the southeastern United States in favor of newer markets. They have also voiced discontent over Toyota's presence in the series. Japanese telecommunications corporation SoftBank acquired Sprint in July 2013. While NASCAR was suspicious of diversity promotion and aware of the negative implications of the redneck image, it also recognized the opportunities to expand the sport. NASCAR's CEO Brian France has become a prime target for criticism among fans during his tenure from 2003 to 2018."NASCAR's Brian France: Finally Answering the Clue Phone?" Insider Racing News.com Retrieved March 2, 2009
In 2016, NASCAR announced the creation of a charter system (in association with the Race Team Alliance, formed in 2014), which would guarantee 36 teams' entry to all 36 races. Eligibility for a charter would depend on a team's attempts to qualify for every race within the previous three seasons. In conjunction with this rule, NASCAR also reduced the size of the Cup field to 40 cars.
Chase for the Cup