| Today, the most watched sport in America is | | | | 2004, the sport decided to get an image-friendly |
| football. But the next sport on that list is no longer | | | | sponsor in NEXTEL. When they merged with Sprint, |
| baseball, not is it basketball - auto racing...specifically, | | | | the new name was born. |
| NASCAR racing...has skyrocketed in growth and | | | | Drivers set out on a 26-race schedule that paves the |
| popularity. What was once a small operation in the | | | | way for a 10-race championship push known as the |
| South has turned into a global phenomenon raking in | | | | Sprint for the Cup. Whoever has emerged with the |
| billions annually - an amazing feat for a sport where | | | | best point total once those 10 races are over is the |
| disaster can be the main attraction. | | | | champion. Only the top 12 regular season finishers are |
| NASCAR racing has a long, storied past. Beginning | | | | eligible for championship contention. |
| with its roots in the Prohibition Era, the sport began in | | | | For many, NASCAR racing is linked to the faces and |
| earnest when Bill France created the sanctioning body | | | | characters involved in the sport - legendary drivers |
| known as NASCAR in 1948. The sport that used to | | | | like the late Dale Earnhardt, as well as Richard Petty |
| be a bootleggers' paradise had turned into a real | | | | and others. In addition, the current set of drivers - |
| sport - and the big rush would come three decades | | | | like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, and |
| later, culminating at the Daytona 500 in 1979. That | | | | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - help power the sport now. |
| year, the contest came down to the final laps, | | | | In 2001, at the season-opening Daytona 500, the |
| between drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. | | | | sport lost a legend when Dale Earnhardt died on the |
| The bad blood shared between the two in this close | | | | final lap, while holding off other competitors to keep |
| finish brewed over into a post-race fight that actually | | | | his son's car and another teammate's vehicle out in |
| endeared a generation of new fans to the sport. | | | | front on the final lap of the race. His loss touched |
| Millions of TV viewers had become a captive | | | | racing fans around the country and the world, and |
| audience due to a huge snowstorm in the East - | | | | few losses have ever been reflected on in the way |
| now, the race itself made them captive in a whole | | | | The Intimidator's loss still is to this day. If there was |
| new manner. | | | | any good to come from the passing of a NASCAR |
| NASCAR racing is made up of a host of series, | | | | racing legend, it was that the sport began a push to |
| including the well-known truck series, and the | | | | improve the safety of the drivers and the tracks. |
| Nationwide Series. However, most mentions of the | | | | Now, NASCAR racing is pushing forward to this |
| sport of NASCAR racing are referring to the Sprint | | | | generation of drivers - and new innovations that will |
| Cup Series, the top series on the circuit. The Sprint | | | | continue to grow and diversify this sport now |
| series was once called the Winston Cup Series; in | | | | enjoyed by countless numbers of people. |