Why Does Nascar have it's "Super Bowl" of Racing at the Start of the Year?

Originally Posted on February 9, 2006 on Foxsports.com.

The Daytona 500 is on February 19th.  Nascar markets this race as the "Super Bowl" of racing.  It is the first race of the season, and has the highest payout for the winner (think millions of dollars here). 

Teams have spent at least 2 days in January testing for this race, and most have already moved into the Daytona area for the race.    And I mean "move in" literally.  Some rent houses, some bring multi-million dollar yachts, and some bring expensive bus/motorhomes.  The fans have moved in too - in slightly cheaper RVs.  Well, some of them are cheaper than the drivers'/owners'/sponsors'/crew chiefs' motorhomes.

This weekend is the Bud Shootout, which is a race of last year's pole sitters and prior Shootout winners.  Those in the race view it as a great way to prep for the 500.  Those left out grind their teeth in frustration and envy.

Sponsors generate new commercials - which debut during the 500.  Nascar brings in "big name" stars to be the grand marshall, sing the national anthem, and start the race.  This year Bon Jovi will sing during the pre-race event.

But why have your biggest event at the start of the season?  Doesn't every other sport do their biggest event at the END of the season?

To begin with, the 500 has the most unique qualifying system.  Every other week, nascar times the cars and lines them up according to who is fastest.  This takes about 2 hours on average.  But for the 500, teams will compete for the pole on February 12th.  The fastest two cars are locked in the field.  That's right - a whole day of qualifying results in only 2 cars locked into the race. 

The rest have to race their way into the 500  through the Gatorade Duels, which are Feb. 16th.  The winner of each Duel starts on the 2nd row of the 500.  The combination of the qualifying time and finish in the Duel sets the rest of the field.  So, the Daytona 500 qualifying process takes several days to complete - quite a luxary for teams who usually arrive at the track, qualify and race in the amount of time between pole day (the 12th) and the Duels (the 16th).

The history of the Daytona 500 sparks some of its popularity.  Lee Petty argued he had won the first one - and stayed at the track until Nascar caved in several days after the race had concluded (another driver had been named the winner - and it was literally a photo finish).  it builds on long tradition of racing on the beach which started in the early 1900's. (Think Barney Oldfield here - which not coincidentally has a seating section at the track named after him).  

The Daytona 500 gained further mystique through Dale Earnhardt's valient and heartbreaking attempts to win it before he finally accomplished it in 1998.  Earnhardt is the winningest driver at the track, including a 10 year streak of winning one of the Duels, he just had trouble winning/finishing the 500.  Daytona gained further noteriety through his death in 2001. 

There is a tremendous amount of preparation put into the race by the teams.  They have been preparing for this race and for the new season  since last November, when the last race of 2005 was run.  The drivers, crews, owners and sponsors have changed teams and the 500 is the "marriage" of those changes.  Once the 500 is over, so is the honeymoon, as the teams begin the 35 race grind toward the last race of the year at Homestead. 

And then they start over - at the 500.