The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was founded in 1948 in Daytona, Florida, to promote the products of the major automakers, first Ford and Chevrolet, and later Pontiac/ General Motors. NASCAR quickly expanded from Florida through the Midwest to California in the early 1950s, the nature of the sport changing dramatically as speeds increased from an average of just over 100 mph in 1957 to current speeds of 200 mph. In addition, dirty driving (spinning other cars on the track or bumping them from behind) has become common, increasing the popularity of the sport, and making crashes frequent occurrences. Dale Earnhardt, one of the leading drivers in the 1990s, has been notorious for his expertise in dirty driving.

The Winston Cup is the most important prize given to the driver who has the best record in the season’s races. While some very popular drivers have surfaced in recent years, none has triumphed like Richard Petty in the 1970s, when he won the Winston Cup on seven occasions.

NASCAR has generally been dominated by white males from the Southern states, like Virginia and the Carolinas. Its fan-base is both national and large, especially with the Daytona 500 being shown annually by the television networks (NASCAR is one of the few sports that always profits the networks), but it too is largely white (African Americans have seldom participated, Wendell Scott being the exception in 1963).