Front Porch FootballNASCAR Breakdown for SEC Fans
by Andrew Koontz & John Covington Lamm
If you’re anything like us, you’ve had a tough time adjusting to a life without sports. You miss the pageantry, competitiveness, camaraderie that sport brings to our lives. We certainly do. No one knows when or if the NBA, MLB, NFL, or College Football will resume play. Even leagues that have posted revised schedules understand that the situation is fluid, and can change in response to the ongoing pandemic. That being said, we do know one thing for certain:
NASCAR is back, baby.
NASCAR is set to resume competition on May 17th at Darlington Raceway. Then they will hold a second Cup Series race at Darlington on the 20th. After those two races the Coca-Cola 600 will take place on May 24th at Charlotte Motor Speedway, followed by a second race in Charlotte on May 27th. In between these Cup Series dates, NASCAR will also be running races for its two lower divisions; the Xfinity and Trucks series. This means that there’s going to be a lot of racing on television over the next two weeks… and you’re most likely going to need a primer to fully appreciate it. That’s where we come in.
We’ve been NASCAR fans our entire lives due to a combination of upbringing and geography, but we really dove back into the sport about a year and a half ago. NASCAR has everything you could ever want in a sport; decades of tradition, huge personalities, and an incredibly competitive product. But like any sport, there’s a learning curve to be able to truly appreciate what you’re watching. So we’re gonna learn you up on all that NASCAR has to offer. From how races and the season are conducted, to what to say to sound like an expert, to which driver is best suited to each fandom. Strap in.
BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY, LET’S GO RACIN’
The Layout
The NASCAR Cup Series Season consists of 36 non-exhibition races (there’s the Clash at Daytona and the All Star Race as well). The majority of races are held on oval tracks between 0.526 miles and 2.66 miles in length, as well as three road courses. There is a 26 race regular season followed by a 10 race playoff. The initial playoff field is made up of 16 drivers, with 4 drivers being eliminated every 3 races. At the year’s final race, the top four drivers vie for the championship, with the highest placing driver winning the overall championship.
Races are composed of lengths varying from 220 to 600 miles, depending on the track. They’re also divided into either three or four stages, with the last stage generally being longer in length than the preceding ones. These stage breaks are designed to create mid race excitement, as the top 10 drivers in a stage each receive bonus points towards the championship.
HOW TO SOUND LIKE AN EXPERT
Like any sport, NASCAR has a parlance that fans are intimately familiar with. If you want to sound like an expert, here are our suggestions on topics to bring up during a race.
1. The Aero Package/Next Gen Car
This is a huge topic of contention. NASCAR has been tinkering with its aerodynamics package for years trying to develop a car that puts on a solid racing product. The past few years have seen the development of a high downforce, low horsepower package. Essentially, this means cars have more grip on the track at the expense of being slower. This was designed to create pack racing, where cars are bunched tightly together vying for position.
For the 2022 season, NASCAR is developing an entirely new car, most commonly referred to as the Next Gen Car. The goal of the Next Gen Car is to drive costs down and create a more competitive landscape for the sport. If NASCAR fans all have one thing in common, it’s strong opinions on the current aero package as well as the Next Gen Car. Either you love the current package or you hate it, and either the Next Gen Car is going to save the sport, or it’s a step in the wrong direction. You don’t even have to know what a splitter is or what a spoiler does; just know that Dale Jr. hates them both.
2. The preferred groove/racing line
Every track has a different preferred groove and racing line, and this can vary depending on the weather, time of day, or surface of the track. One easy way to sound like an expert is to talk about how the track is going to change depending on the time of day. Afternoon? Say the track will be hot and slick. Evening? It’s gonna cool down. Your driver is losing time each lap? Yell at him to run the fence through the TV. Again, you don’t have to know what this means. We all do it. Trust me.
3. Tight/Loose
You’ll hear this a million times during a race. A car that is tight means that it’s experiencing understeer; the front wheels are sliding and it’s causing the car to not turn smoothly in the corner. A car that is loose is experiencing oversteer; it’s turning too sharply and causing the back wheels to slide.
Teams adjust how tight or loose a car is mid-race by changing the air pressure of the tires (higher to loosen the car up, lower to tighten it) or by adjusting the wedge of the car; i.e. changing the tension in the rear springs of the car. More wedge makes a car tighter, whereas less wedge loosens a car up. If you really want to sound like you know your stuff, say something along the lines of “the car looks too loose through the center of the corner, he’s not getting any drive off. Needs a wedge adjustment.” I have no idea what that means in engineering terms, but it sounds really serious, and you’d assume anyone who said something like that was a bonafide expert.
4. Complain about lapped cars
They’re always in the damn way!
5. Complain about Kyle Busch
You either love the man or you hate him. When in doubt, blame Kyle Busch. He’s the bane of most NASCAR fans’ existence. Freakin’ Kyle Busch.
WHO TO CHEER FOR
If you’re going to watch NASCAR, you need to be a fan of one driver above all others. Luckily, there are plenty of great personalities to choose from. To make it even easier, we’ve lined up each SEC school with its own driver. In each case, we think we’ve found a solid example for you to get behind.
SEC EAST
Tennessee: Austin Dillon – No. 3 Car, Richard Childress Racing
Austin Dillon really doesn’t deserve all the hate that he gets. The guy has won championships in both the Xfinity and Trucks Series, and he’s won both the Daytona 500 as well as the Coca-Cola 600 at the Cup level. He’s undoubtedly a talented driver. That said, it’s undeniable that he still lives in the shadow of the man who made his car number famous – Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Earnhardt fans are a finicky bunch; they either love that the legacy of The Intimidator lives on in Dillon, or they resent Richard Childress for giving the proverbial keys to the kingdom to his own grandson.
He’s the perfect driver for Tennessee – a once great program whose fan base has unfairly maligned every head coach it’s had since Phillip Fulmer.
Missouri: Brad Keselowski – No. 2 Car, Team Penske
I’ve never met a Brad Keselowski fan in real life. I’ve also never met a Missouri fan in real life. See? Y’all are perfect for each other!
Florida: Joey Logano – No. 22 Car, Team Penske
Joey Logano and Florida are a match made in heaven. Why, you ask? Simple – they’re both pure chaos. Logano has a reputation of doing whatever it takes to win, or even finish one spot ahead of the next driver. He once told a reporter that Kevin Harvick’s wife “wears the firesuit in the family.”
He drove Tony Stewart into the grass on a late race restart once at Auto Club Speedway, leading to both a fistfight as well as the greatest post race interview in NASCAR history.
Logano is a relentless competitor who consistently throws a wrench into the plans of other drivers… and he wins a lot, to boot. Florida football & Joey Logano – two agents of chaos.
Kentucky: Ryan Newman – No. 6 Car, Roush-Fenway Racing
You probably hadn’t heard of Ryan Newman prior to the 2020 Daytona 500, where he suffered an incredibly brutal crash while leading the last lap. Thankfully, Newman has recovered from his injuries and has been cleared by NASCAR to race again. Newman is widely regarded as one of the smoothest drivers in NASCAR; the guy doesn’t wreck equipment, races incredibly hard, and is well respected in the garage. His propensity for setting fast qualifying times earned him the nickname “Rocketman”, and he’s won both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in his career; two of the sport’s most prestigious races.
Newman is perfect for Kentucky fans because he’s consistent and respected by his peers; a moniker that Kentucky football has largely developed under the tenure of Mark Stoops. Also, he has a tendency to piss off Clint Bowyer.
Vanderbilt: Bubba Wallace – No. 43 Car, Richard Petty Motorsports
Bubba Wallace and Vandy football are quite similar. Both are well regarded by their peers, but neither is overly competitive in their respective league. Wallace finished 28th in the NASCAR Cup Series in both 2018 and 2019 and has never won a Cup Series race. We all want Bubba Wallace to succeed. He’s an incredibly talented and personable young driver. Plus Wallace is behind the wheel of one of NASCAR’s most historic and successful rides. As the only full time African-American driver in the Cup Series, he provides a much needed perspective to a sport that has always been lacking in diversity.
However, similar to the rigorous Vanderbilt academics that make it difficult for the Commodores to compete in recruiting in the SEC, Bubba Wallace and his Richard Petty Motorsports team have financial issues that make it difficult to compete with the top drivers in the sport. The sponsorship money simply isn’t there to sustain RPM as a top tier team. Unless that changes or Wallace finds a different ride, he’ll be stuck in the mid pack of the field for the foreseeable future.
Georgia: Chase Elliott – No. 9 Car, Hendrick Motorsports
It would seem wrong for Georgia fans not to pull for a local man. A Dawsonville, GA native Chase Elliott is the son of former NASCAR great Bill Elliott, or as NASCAR diehards call him, “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.” Elliott drives the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports and is currently the most popular driver in the sport. At only 24 years old, Elliott has won the 2016 Cup Series Rookie of the Year as well as six races in the Cup Series, including a most recent win in the 2019 Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte. Chase Elliott is going to be in the sport for a long time to come and is only going to continue to improve as he looks to win a Cup Series sooner than later. Georgia fans, you should be happy with this one.
South Carolina: Clint Bowyer – No. 14 Car, Stewart-Haas Racing
One of our personal favorite drivers. Clint Bowyer is known as one of the friendliest and craziest guys in the garage. Bowyer has won 10 races in his career, has 116 top ten finishes, and finished 2nd in the Championship back in 2012. He almost got the win at the 2020 Daytona 500 (that would have made our own Chris Paschal weep tears of joy), but on the last lap he was ran through the grass by Michael McDowell on a restart and had to settle for finishing sixth.
Bowyer is perfect for South Carolina fans – when he wins, it’s the highest of highs…but when he races poorly? Well, the sky is always falling. Unfortunately for Bowyer fans, there is the sad reality that he might never win a championship; a ninth place 2019 finish may be as good as it’s going to get from here on out until he retires. Bowyer is currently signed to a one year contract, and it’s unlikely to be renewed if he doesn’t win at least one race this year. For South Carolina fans, hopefully your football team will get over that championship hump someday, and you can be obnoxious to Clemson fans again.
SEC WEST
Ole Miss: Kurt Busch – No. 1 Car, Chip Ganassi Racing
Every sport needs a villain; NASCAR has two in Kurt & Kyle Busch. Kurt is the older brother. He won NASCAR’s inaugural playoff championship back in 2004 driving the No. 97 Car for Jack Roush, and has been a mainstay of the sport ever since. Kurt bounced around numerous teams in his career, sometimes leaving a trail of destruction with him.
No stranger to controversy, he’s perfect for Ole Miss. Though he’s arguably mellowed out the longer he’s been racing, he’s still regarded by many fans as the archetypal “bad boy” of NASCAR. That being said, car owner Chip Ganassi and Ole Miss both have one thing in common – they like winners. Hiring Lane Kiffin showed that Ole Miss likes winners, baggage be damned. A truly dangerous combo.
Auburn: Kevin Harvick – No. 4 Car, Stewart-Haas Racing
Kevin Harvick is, objectively speaking, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. He’s won 49 career races in the Cup Series, including one Daytona 500, one Southern 500, two Coca-Cola 600’s, and two Brickyard 400’s. He also won the 2014 NASCAR Championship. Harvick was Richard Childress’s replacement for Dale Earnhardt, Sr. after his untimely passing in 2001, and man did he pay off. Harvick won his third race ever in the Cup Series at Atlanta, and has only gotten better.
His nickname is The Closer, due to his ability to charge to the lead at the end of the race and steal victory from other drivers. However, one thing has always prevented Harvick from being the best driver in all of NASCAR during his career; Jimmie Johnson. Harvick’s career has coincided with Johnson’s in almost its entirety; the two men are even the same age. Everything Harvick has accomplished, Johnson has accomplished two, three, or even sevenfold. He’s the perfect driver for Auburn – an all time great program that too often undeservedly lives in the shadows of its rival.
Mississippi State: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – No. 47 Car, JTG Daugherty Racing
Mississippi State gets Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. This is admittedly an odd pairing, as Stenhouse is a diehard Ole Miss fan. But hear us out. Stenhouse is a Mississippi native. He has a reputation as a guy who drives on the edge at all times. He has an incredible mullet. That reputation has resulted in the unfortunate nickname of “Wrecky Stenhouse”, as he has a tendency to either finish near the top of the leaderboard or crash out of the race. This is where the connection really starts to make sense.
Last year, Stenhouse got into a twitter spat with Kurt Busch over his tendency to wreck cars. A few months after this spat, Stenhouse was let go from his contract with Roush-Fenway Racing and replaced by Chris Buescher.
A large part of Stenhouse being fired was, according to team owner Jack Roush, the constant wrecking. Stenhouse’s feud with Kurt Busch wasn’t the primary cause of his firing, but it didn’t do him any favors. That said, Stenhouse has gotten off to a hot start in his new ride at JTG Daugherty Racing, claiming the pole position for the Daytona 500 as well as a 3rd place finish at the season’s third race of the year at Las Vegas. Mississippi State, at its best, is an overachieving underdog. Stenhouse provides them with that opportunity driving the No. 47 car.
Arkansas: Martin Truex Jr.: No. 19 Car, Joe Gibbs Racing
Let’s face it, Arkansas fans – you guys haven’t seen much winning recently on the football field. You could go for a winner. Martin Truex Jr. will provide that. He finished 2nd in the Cup Series last year, has won two Coca-Cola 600’s (of which the 2019 edition happened to be the first race either of us had ever attended), and won the Cup Series in 2017. He might win the Series again this year, so at least one sport can work out for you. You can thank us for this later.
Alabama: Jimmie Johnson – No. 48 Car, Hendrick Motorsports
Jumping on the Jimmie Johnson bandwagon shouldn’t be hard for Alabama fans. Both Alabama and Jimmie Johnson built dynasties in their respective sports. Jimmie Johnson won the Cup Series five consecutive years between 2006-2010, and won a total of seven championships between 2006-2016. He’s currently tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Sr. for most championships by a single driver. He has 83 career victories in the Cup Series, ranking him 6th all time.
We think this is a man Nick Saban would get along with. Also, similar to your dynasty window closing, Jimmie’s run is also closing, as this is his last year racing full time. Now is the time to cheer for him while you still can and see if he has one last run in him.
LSU: Kyle Busch – No. 18 Car, Joe Gibbs Racing
No matter how so many NASCAR fans cannot stand him (including myself), Kyle Busch is the hottest ticket in NASCAR at the moment. Just like LSU, he’s coming off a championship and is looking for a second in a row. Busch won rookie of the year in 2005, has two Cup Series championships, and has won 56 Cup Series races in his career.
LSU knocked off Alabama as the king of the SEC last year and is looking to prove it’s more than just a one hit wonder. Similarly, Busch wants to add a 3rd Cup Series championship to his name and start his own dynasty. Pull for Kyle Busch, LSU fans, and you’ll have two winners in your life.
Texas A&M: Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Car, Joe Gibbs Racing
Aggie football and Denny Hamlin have one huge similarity they are known for… money. Denny Hamlin is worth about $65 million and has no problem flaunting it. Hamlin has a 30,000-square-foot Lake Norman mansion that includes 24 TVs, a basketball court, and even a bowling alley. He also happens to be best friends with Michael Jordan.
Aggie fans, y’all certainly don’t have a problem with money either, as Texas A&M generates about $148 million a year and is the most valuable college football team in the country. Denny Hamlin has never won a Cup Series Championship, but he’s won 38 races, including three Daytona 500’s, while finishing fourth in the standings last year. There’s a chance every year that Hamlin finally breaks through and wins a Cup Series championship, and Aggies, with all that money and those facilities, we eventually expect the same from you in the SEC.
There you have it. You now know how to walk, talk, and complain like a true NASCAR fan. You even have a new favorite driver. The only thing left to do is wait. Sunday will be here soon enough, and with it, NASCAR’s glorious return.
In the words of Darrell Waltrip, “Boogity boogity boogity, let’s go racin’!”
John Lamm is a recent graduate of Wofford College. He is an avid college football fan, and one of the only people that can stump Chris Paschal when it comes to pointless college football trivia. He also is one of the leading historians on the Winston Era of Florida State Football. Recent publications include, “I Guess We Strong Then” and “We Didn’t Come Here For A Reason,” which is a three part series that dives into the 2013 Florida State Seminoles. It’s over 3,000 pages long.
Andrew Koontz is a connoisseur of ACC football and fried chicken. Wofford grad. Long suffering Duke football fan. When in doubt, just gotta send it.
