SOME OF THE EXPENSE FOR TRACKS

Example : 2009 Dover
First, the numbers. Dover has to pay NASCAR a $6.055 million fee for its May race and $5.429 million for the September one. However, the track also gets $12.645 million in broadcast coin for its spring race and $10.473 for the fall one. The track has to contribute about 28 percent of that total to race purses. Dover has previously reported that about 70 percent of its revenues derive from its two Sprint Cup races.

As part of the filing, Dover disclosed the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup sanctioning agreements. Here are a few of the choice items, according to Scene:
• The track must carry $50 million in liability insurance and $1 million in medical malpractice liability insurance. NASCAR must be listed among the insured. NASCAR must require the TV partner to carry $2 million in general liability insurance ($1 million limit per occurrence) that includes the promoter in that policy.
• A track cannot alter the racing surface by painting, sealing or resurfacing without prior written consent of NASCAR.
• NASCAR can postpone or cancel an event if the promoter does not fix any unsatisfactory racing surface, barriers, fencing, retaining systems, SAFER barrier systems, garage area, pit area, race control area, timing and scoring areas or structures used for broadcast of the event.
• NASCAR gets 225 reserved choice grandstand tickets for the race and 200 for qualifying.
• The track must provide 325 parking passes/permits adjacent to or near the garage area for NASCAR and 50 in close proximity to the NASCAR track suite.
• The track must provide two pace vehicles. It also must provide 150 chairs in an enclosed, climate-controlled area for the drivers meeting. It must provide a control tower with air conditioning, heat, 14 chairs (with cushions), phone line and television monitors.
• The track must provide a television booth for at least five people, air-conditioned to 68 degrees. The TV partner also gets 300 tickets plus one luxury track suite. The track also must use "reasonable efforts to cause the title sponsor of the event to buy advertising in the telecasts." NASCAR requires its broadcast partner to say the name of the race at least once during the opening segment of the telecast and thereafter at least once during each hour of the telecast.

NASCAR Points System

NASCAR Points System
By Paul Denton
2007-05-26 16:32:08
Finish Points
1 185
2 170
3 165
4 160
5 155
6 150
7 146
8 142
9 138
10 134
11 130 ** 11 to 43 have a 3 point spread betwwen each
A NASCAR POINTS SYSTEM PRIMER
The premise of the NASCAR points system is accumulating more points throughout the race season than the other drivers. Whoever has the most points at the end of the race season is the winner.

At it's essence, it is a pretty simple formula.
A twist was added to this simple points system after the 2003 NASCAR race season. The 'Chase for the Nextel Cup' is a unique spin on the race season and how points are accumulated. At the start of the 2007 NASCAR Season the points system was tweaked again. This article includes those changes.

NASCAR SEASON LENGTH
A good starting point in understanding the NASCAR points system is knowing how long the race season runs.
The NASCAR Nextel Cup race schedule generally starts around the second week of February and goes to about the third week of November.
Most races are run on Sunday afternoon. A handful of races are run 'under the lights' on Saturday night. With its stretch of 36 NASCAR sanctioned races at race track facilities from the east to west coast, the NASCAR season is arguably the longest and most grueling sports season in the United States.

HOW POINTS ARE AWARDED
A NASCAR race is comprised of 43 drivers. Each participating driver is awarded points based on his (or her) finish position in the race. The range of points earned is from 34 to 185. The table shows the corresponding points to race finish position.
You'll note that:
Positions 1st and 2nd have a 15-point spread between them
Positions 2nd - 6th have a 5-point spread between them
Positions 6th - 11th have a 4-point spread
Positions 11th - 43rd have a 3-point spread

Bumping up the points awarded to the winner (from 180 to 185) was done so that more emphasis would be placed on winning. It's still argued that there should be more points awarded to the winner, and no points awarded below 30th.

BONUS POINTS
In addition to the points a driver can earn for his finish position, extra (bonus) points are awarded for leading a lap during the race.
An extra 5-points is tacked onto the drivers race points earned from his finish position for leading at least one lap in the race. Even more, the driver who leads the most laps, gets twice the bonus points as the other lap leading drivers. He gets a total of 10 points. In the event of a tie for laps lead, the driver with the finish position closest to 1st gets the 10-points.
At best, a driver can score 195 points in one race. That's 185 points for 1st place and 10 bonus points for leading the most laps. In theory, if the winner of the race also leads the most laps, he could earn 161 more points than the driver finishing 43rd and leading no laps.

195 (185 + 10) [1st place + most laps led] - 34 [last place with no laps led] = 161

BIRTH OF THE CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP
This method seemed 'good enough' until the 2004 NASCAR season.
With the rising popularity of NASCAR racing, Brian France (the grandson of Bill France, the founder of NASCAR), devised an alternative to the method of crowning the NASCAR Champion.
I believe it was for three reasons.
Wins. The 2003 season champion, Matt Kenseth, won the NASCAR Championship having only won 1 race. Jimmie Johnson finished the year 2nd having won 3 races. Ryan Newman finished the year 6th having won 8 races. Matt Kenseth's consistent top-10 finishes won him the Championship, not his wins. Some argued that wins not consistency should determine the Championship.
Excitement. Recent NASCAR seasons Championships were runaway victories many races before the last race was run.
Jeff Gordon, the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 349 points more than 2nd place Tony Stewart.
Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 265 more points than 2nd place Dale Earnhardt.
Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 201 more points than 2nd place Bobby Labonte.
Jeff Gordon, the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion score 364 more points than 2nd place Mark Martin.
Because of these lopsided victories, there was no excitement over who would win the NASCAR Championship come seasons end.

TIGHT OR LOOSE/BANKING

Drivers must adapt their driving styles to the behavior of their racecar, which can often change as a race progresses, becoming either "tighter" or "looser."


• Tight -- When a car is tight, it's hard to turn. To get the car to steer more easily, the driver has to lift off the accelerator while turning -- slowing down the car. This condition can be overcome during a race by adjusting factors like tire pressure, spring stiffness and chassis weight distribution.

• Loose -- When a car is loose, it turns too easily --so the car tends to fishtail. Again, the driver has to slow down to keep control of the car, slowing lap times. Tire, spring and chassis adjustments can be made to overcome a loose condition during a race.

Factors like track temperature and tire wear can play a part in how the car responds to the driver during a race -- even the amount of tape over the car's grill can have a profound impact on its handling. Juggling all these factors, the best drivers and crew chiefs are masters at adjusting the car during the course of a race.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Most oval NASCAR tracks are banked at various degrees to create momentum and velocity. Banking can range from very steep -- more than 30 degrees at tracks like Talladega and Daytona -- to very flat, with virtually no banking on road courses.

Tracks that are progressively banked feature gradually increasing degrees of banking as they get closer to the track wall. This allows for cars to gain and maintain higher speeds in the outer lanes, allowing them to race more competitively with cars in the inside lanes.

DRAFTING

NASCAR racecars are very dependent on aerodynamics, especially on superspeedways. When two or more cars run one after the other at high speeds, they divide the amount of wind resistance (drag) between them -- and less resistance means more speed. That's why it's so common to see cars running bumper-to-bumper on superspeedways. This technique is called drafting, and it's a crucial art to master if a driver wants to win a superspeedway race