My wife watched her first NASCAR race in 2021 and fell in love immediately. Here’s her advice for new fans of the sport.
With the new NASCAR season looming, lots of new fans are preparing to watch their first Daytona 500 on Sunday. I’ve been watching NASCAR since I was in diapers, but I know that the sport can be intimidating for new viewers. I asked my wife, Bethany VanDerHorst, who has been following NASCAR since the 2021 season, if she had any advice for new viewers. You can learn a lot from watching the broadcast, since most of the announcers are former drivers themselves. However, they simply don’t have time each week to explain everything going on, so Bethany had a few suggestions for connecting to and understanding the sport.
Pick a favorite: The first thing that drew her in was learning all the driver’s personalities. Some are humble, some are cocky. Some are serious, some like to crack jokes. Some of them are all of those depending on the weekend! Sometimes, those personalities come through in their driving. Other times, they can be very different outside of the car. Three-time champion Joey Logano is known to be a very aggressive driver, but seems very personable and friendly in interviews. Watching these personalities play out at 200 MPH is often how a new viewer will find their favorite driver and connect with the sport. That being said, it’s totally fair to root for multiple drivers!
Follow the story: Watching a NASCAR race is sort of like watching every week’s NFL game at once. There are multiple storylines happening in every race – it’s not just about who wins that week. For some drivers at an elite level, any finish outside of the top 10 is a disaster. For some rookie drivers or struggling teams, an 18th place finish is nothing short of heroic. As you learn about all of the drivers and teams, you begin to see these things play out, and it’s a lot of fun to follow.
In some of the races, you’ll begin to see how manufacturer politics come into play. On the big tracks like Daytona and Talladega, the Fords will tend to pit with other Fords, and so on. There are also politics related to teams – Chase Elliott as well as his crew, are part of the #9 team. However, he races for Hendrick Motorsports, who also fields the #24 car, the #48 car, and the #5 car. He’s going to race those guys a little differently than he’d race a Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Similarly, since Elliott drives a Chevrolet, he’ll probably treat a Chevrolet differently than a Ford or a Toyota – unless those cars are being driven by his close friends Ryan Blaney or Bubba Wallace, who are a close trio of friends off-track. All of these different business and personal relationships can impact on-track activity throughout the race. Of course, when the race winds down, it’s every man for himself.
Learn the tracks: Even though most of the racing is done on ovals, different types of ovals race differently. The superspeedways – Daytona and Talladega – will race very differently than the 1.5 mile intermediates like Charlotte and Texas or the half-mile short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville. Each individual track has idiosyncrasies that you will pick up on. For example, turn 3 at Darlington is tighter than the other turns due to a minnow farm on the property the track was built on. This makes the track very challenging because the drivers can’t really get into a rhythm.
Sometimes short track racing is easier to follow, since all of the action is confined in a smaller area, and it’s more like local racing viewers may have seen in their hometown on a Saturday night. Road course racing is more challenging to follow, and she recommends looking up the layout beforehand. You can even find in-car videos of club racers driving that track on YouTube, which can be helpful for understanding the action on your TV on Sunday.
Attend a race: Of course, nothing compares to actually seeing a race in person. Physically going to a race allows you to understand the competition on a deeper level. What really stuck with Bethany after our trip to Bristol was how noticeable the temperature changes were. Since we were fortunate enough to watch from the pits, she could see how that impacted tire wear firsthand. Now when we watch races on TV together – especially night races – she’s a tire wear expert. It’s pretty cool.
Even if you don’t have VIP access like we did, you’ll be amazed by how much you can see at the track. You will have many opportunities to get up close and personal with your favorite drivers, as well as their cars. The best part is, everyone is very nice and accommodating, from the crew members to the fans – unless, of course, you’re wearing Denny Hamlin gear.
We hope that this helps you enjoy your journey into the NASCAR fandom. It’s a great way to spend your Sunday. See you at the track!
Photos: Cameron and Bethany VanDerHorst
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