{"id":1112920,"date":"2020-03-07T20:15:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T01:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1112920"},"modified":"2021-02-09T12:33:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T17:33:59","slug":"what-is-the-nascar-cup-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the NASCAR Cup Series?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ryan Newman NASCAR Crash\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p11IUYaf4XM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Auto racing has long been one of the leading sports just\nbelow the main tier in the minds of American sports fans, remaining\nrecognizable because of big names including Mario Andretti, Richard Petty, A.J.\nFoyt, and Dale Earnhardt Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One reason that auto racing doesn\u2019t reside in the same stratosphere as the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball may be its fractured nature. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/the-wildest-1-car-crash-in-nascar-history-was-at-daytona\/\">NASCAR<\/a>, the IndyCar Series, and international racing\u2019s Formula One and just three of the multiple circuits within the sport, each utilizing different models of vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASCAR faces an additional challenge in trying to emerge from\nthe pack with hockey, golf, tennis, and soccer: It keeps changing the name of\nits most prominent series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the NASCAR Cup Series?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jimmie Johnson Explains Why He&#039;s Retiring From NASCAR This Year\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EP4yBzPHU1c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Stock cars derive their name from the fact that the body styles of the racing vehicles resemble those of the millions of cars that are purchased annually at dealerships in the United States. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/10-worst-wrecks-in-nascar-history-2\/\">NASCAR<\/a> regulates aspects of the bodies, chassis, and aerodynamics to create parity among the brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NASCAR Cup Series is the newest name for\nthe top racing series for stock cars, which began with eight races in 1949 as\nthe Grand National Division and had most recently been branded as the Monster\nEnergy NASCAR Cup Series for three seasons. Its popularity comes from the\nsuccess of top drivers including Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Bill Elliott,\nJeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The name is a departure from the past when the\ncircuit incorporated brands such as Winston cigarettes or Sprint cellular service\ninto its name. The new core sponsors, known as Premium Partners, are Busch\nBeer, Coca-Cola, GEICO, and Xfinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NASCAR Cup Series schedule consists of weekly races beginning in February with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/did-ryan-newman-break-any-bones-in-the-major-daytona-crash\/\">Daytona 500<\/a> and extending into early November with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, the culmination of a late-series playoff process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process of determining a series champion begins\nwith points being awarded in each race for place of finish and the number of\nlaps led. After the first 26 races, the series moves into its playoff phase.\nSixteen drivers are seeded based on their number of wins and overall season\nperformance and those playoff competitors compete against each other within the\nfull field of cars over the final 10 races. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What other names has NASCAR used for its top circuit?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wildest pit stops from All-Star Race qualifying\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/McN0-DpyHzE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/why-is-dale-earnhardt-jr-defending-the-daytona-500-winner\/\">NASCAR\u2019s<\/a> top series was known as the Grand National Division from 1950-71, but the sport experienced its greatest growth in recognition when it awarded naming rights to R.J. Reynolds and christened the circuit as the Winston Cup Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal regulatory policies on tobacco advertising made\nit impractical for R.J. Reynolds to retain its title sponsorship rights, as was\nthe case for Virginia Slims in women\u2019s tennis, and the Winston Cup became the Nextel\nCup in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A telecommunications merger led to a name change to\nthe Sprint Cup Series from 2008-16. Monster Energy came on board for the past\nthree seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the other major NASCAR series?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>NASCAR operates two other significant racing series\neach season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Xfinity Series uses cars close in design and\ntechnical specifications to the NASCAR Cup Series, making it a proving ground\nfor drivers aspiring to compete at the top level. Because racing teams often\nsponsor cars at both levels, Xfinity Series races are primarily run one day\nearlier than NASCAR Cup Series at the same location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The third major NASCAR circuit is the Gander RV\n&amp; Outdoors Truck Series, which was created in 1995 and features modified\npickup trucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR's 2020 season is being run with a new name for its top stock car racing series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":1112921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[253795,4898],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is the NASCAR Cup Series? - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NASCAR&#039;s 2020 season is being run with a new name for its top stock car racing series.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is the NASCAR Cup Series?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NASCAR&#039;s 2020 season is being run with a new name for its top stock car racing series.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-08T01:15:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-09T17:33:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Daytona-500.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Sports7J\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/\",\"name\":\"What Is the NASCAR Cup Series? - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Daytona-500.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-08T01:15:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-09T17:33:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac\"},\"description\":\"NASCAR's 2020 season is being run with a new name for its top stock car racing series.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Daytona-500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Daytona-500.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"The 62nd running of the Daytona kicked off the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. | Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/what-is-the-nascar-cup-series\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is the NASCAR Cup Series?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\",\"name\":\"Sports7\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/john-moriello\/\",\"name\":\"John Moriello\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/John-Moriello-96x96.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/John-Moriello-96x96.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"John Moriello\"},\"description\":\"John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sports7 in 2020. 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A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.","sameAs":["","Sports7J","john-moriello-1a11743","",""],"jobTitle":"John Moriello | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer - Motorsports","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316173,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112920\/revisions\/1316173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1112921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}