Is NASCAR a sport? (SURPRISING Answer!)

NASCAR stands for National Association of Stock Car Racing. It’s the most popular stock car racing league in the United States and Canada. In fact, NASCAR is the second-largest professional sports league in the U.S. based on attendance. Millions of fans tune in from home to watch their favorite drivers compete every Sunday afternoon during its peak season from February to September. Let’s see if this is a sport or not.

What is NASCAR?

NASCAR is a motorsport that involves a wide variety of high-speed racing. There are two main types of races:

– Strictly Stock races are where drivers get behind the wheel of a car that is identical to the ones sold at the dealership. This makes it so that any car owner can take their car out of the garage and compete. Strictly Stock Races are split up into three types of races: the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. 

-All-Access Races – All-Access races are where drivers get behind the wheel of cars that are custom-built for speed. These races are designed for experienced drivers only. All-Access Races include the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

 The Playoffs start with a 16-race regular season called the Super Bowl Round. The top-12 drivers in the standings advance to the next round called the Round of 12. The top-8 drivers in the standings advance to the final round called the Championship Round.

The History of NASCAR

In February 1947, NASCAR’s founder and first president William France, his wife, and two investors created the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The first race took place on June 19, 1948 at the beach road in Daytona, Florida. Since then, NASCAR has grown from a single race to a series of over 40 different events that take place every year. During NASCAR’s early years, the races were held on dirt tracks and were only meant for stock cars. Nowadays the races are organized on special tracks. 

What is a sport?

The word “sport” is used as a synonym for physical activity or exercise. You might say that someone is a “sport” because they are active and fit. But what does it mean to be a sport? In the broad definition, it means a physical activity that requires certain skills. 

What is a sport? Made with Canva

Stricter definitions also require that sports have a competitive element. An activity needs 3 components before it can be considered a sport according to these definitions:

1/ A physical activity

2/ That requires a skill

3/ And has a competitive element

In today’s world, most sports involve competitive games where the goal is to beat your opponent. This means that you can’t participate in a sport without having an opponent. 

A lot of sports can be viewed on TV and a lot of people have a favorite athlete. This can inspire them to start practicing this sport as well.

Now that we know what a sport is, we can determine if NASCAR is a sport or not. 

Is NASCAR a sport? Is NASCAR racing in the Olympics?

 Let’s go over the previously discussed elements to see if NASCAR is a sport or not. 

-NASCAR has a physical element. Drivers have to move their arms and feet to move forward. Drivers also have to deal with a lot of G forces when they turn around the track. Some people argue that this physical element is minor if you compare it with other sports but driving a racing car is very intense.

-There are also skills required to race with a NASCAR car. The drivers have to make sure that they don’t crash into each other and find the best racing line. This can take years of training and the drivers have to keep improving their skills to be able to win.

-There is also a competitive element in NASCAR. Drivers have to make sure that they are the first to finish the race. There is a championship that lasts a whole year and takes place on different tracks. The goal is to win this championship. Drivers also have to follow specific rules if they want to win.

At the moment NASCAR is not part of the Olympics. There are also no intentions to add it in the near future. 

To conclude, we can state that NASCAR is a sport. It has all the elements that are required to define it as such. It has a rich history and people enjoy watching it. For this reason, we can see NASCAR becoming more popular in the coming years.

 Source

https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/sport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sport