page_title: Sports in the United States
section_title: NASCAR
hierarchical_section_title: Sports in the United States / Individual sports / Motorsports / NASCAR
caption_attribution_description: English: The green flag flies on a new season of NASCAR.
context_page_description: Sports in the United States are an important part of culture in the United States. American football is the most popular sport to watch in the United States, followed by baseball, basketball, and ice hockey, which makes up the "4 major sports". Soccer, Rugby union, Rugby league, tennis, golf, wrestling, auto racing, softball, field lacrosse, box lacrosse, handball, volleyball, and water polo are also played in the country. Based on Olympic Games, World Championships, and other major competitions in respective sports, the United States is the most successful sports nation in the world.
  Based on revenue, the four major professional sports leagues in the United States are Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. The market for professional sports in the United States is roughly $69 billion, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined. All four enjoy wide-ranging domestic media coverage and are considered the preeminent leagues in their respective sports in the world, although American football does not have a substantial following in other nations.
context_section_description: The CART-IRL Split coincided with an enormous expansion of stock car racing, governed by NASCAR, from its past as a mostly regional circuit mainly followed in the Southern United States to a truly national sport.  NASCAR's audience peaked in the early 2000s, and has declined quite a bit ever since the implementation of the Chase for the Cup in 2004, though it continues to have around 2–4 million viewers per race. Among NASCAR's popular former drivers are Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Richard Petty. Among NASCAR's popular active drivers are Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson. NASCAR's most popular race is the Daytona 500, the opening race of the season, held each year at Daytona Beach, Florida in February.
caption: The start of the 2015 Daytona 500, the biggest race in the NASCAR Cup Series
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