NASCAR stars take various paths to the highest stock car divisions.

Current NASCAR stars Scott Riggs, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch each started in the series.

In 1983 he won the American Speed Association ( ASA ) championship while competing against some of NASCAR's future stars like Mark Martin, 1992 NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki and Dick Trickle.

NASCAR stars including Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne honed their skills and captured championships while competing in various USAC series.

The format was similar to ABC's The Bachelor, although contestants competed for dates with racing stars, like NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jon Wood, and not for their hand in marriage.

It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Rally Championship, NASCAR, sportscars and touring cars compete against each other, going head-to-head in identical cars.

The event originally included the world's top rally drivers, but now features stars also from other disciplines, such as Formula One, NASCAR, Le Mans and MotoGP, competing against each other in identical cars.

The 2009 season marked the 25th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports, which has fielded cars for past NASCAR stars Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, and Brian Vickers.

Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR ’ s biggest stars including Dale Earnhardt Jr. ( former late model stock car competitor ) and Jeff Gordon ( former Busch Series track record holder ).

Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the CART championship, and top NASCAR teams such as Junior Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports and DEI.

Normally used an entry level formula, it has grown into a stand alone series, with National, State and Club events and Championships. The first NASCAR " Strictly Stock " race ever was held at Charlotte Speedway, on June 19, 1949. Where a racing class requires that the cars raced be production vehicles only slightly adapted for racing, manufacturers typically produce a limited run of such vehicles for public sale so that they can legitimately race them in the class.

His crash forced NASCAR to implement new safety regulations, such as the Car of Tomorrow.

Many NASCAR drivers also got their start in racing from karts, such as Darrell Waltrip, Danica Patrick, Lake Speed, Ricky Rudd, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon.

The festival's popularity stems from its wide array of events, such as arts and crafts shows, NASCAR displays, popular amusement park rides, and multi-artist day-long concerts, and the fact that parking, entry to the festival, and attendance of the concert are all free of charge.

Several NASCAR greats, such as Darrell Waltrip, Michael Waltrip, and Jeremy Mayfield got their start in racing at the Speedway.

Famous international racers, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., can be seen sometimes on NASCAR nights.

Auto racing, including NASCAR and sprint car racing along with wrestling are popular as well as outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing.

As a competitor in college athletics, UCF has many notable student athletes, coaches and staff members, such as NFL players Matt Prater, Daunte Culpepper, Kevin Smith, Brandon Marshall, Asante Samuel, Atari Bigby, Mike Sims-Walker, and Josh Robinson, MLS goalkeeper Sean Johnson, NBA starting guard Jermaine Taylor, NASCAR driver Aric Almirola, Olympic beach volleyball player Phil Dalhausser and soccer star Michelle Akers.

As of 2007, ESPN no longer displays the actual name of the NASCAR Nationwide Series or Sprint Cup Series race during highlights of such ( Example: the " Allstate 400 at the Brickyard " was re-dubbed the " Brickyard 400 pres.

Chrysler has produced three generations of such engines: the first ( the Chrysler FirePower engine ) in the 1950s, the second ( the 426 Hemi ), developed for NASCAR in 1964 and produced through the early 1970s, and finally the " new HEMI " in the early 2000s.

Citgo was a sponsor of the Wood Brothers racing team in NASCAR for many years, with drivers such as Elliott Sadler, Kyle Petty, Neil Bonnett, Morgan Shepherd and Dale Jarrett.

Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves " EA Sports Network " ( EASN ) with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as NBA Live, FIFA, NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR.

It should be noted NASCAR has had co-sanctioned races with various series in the past ; in such cases, the win counts only in the series which that driver's car was sanctioned.

Since 2005 the " Dream " has showcased a who's who in NASCAR and NHRA, featuring such drivers as Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Pedregon and others.

The new management has sparked criticism among some of the press and fans for allegedly alienating the factory teams and for introducing NASCAR style rules such as rolling start and pace car.

From its opening until 2011 it was mainly used for NASCAR races such as NASCAR K & N Pro Series West and Whelen All-American Series events.

* Arcade games from the 1990s and 2000s such as an eight-player linked Sega Daytona USA ( which has been recently replaced with EA Sports / Global VR's NASCAR Racing ), a four-player linked San Francisco Rush 2049, a four-player linked Sega OutRun 2, two Pump It Up dance games ( Fiesta and NX2 ), Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2, several Guitar Hero Arcade games, a number of fighting games such as Tekken 5, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the arcade edition of Soulcalibur.

The trend expanded rapidly in NASCAR such that in 1991, all 29 races in the Winston Cup Series featured sponsor names ( including the Daytona 500, which was titled the Daytona 500 by STP ), with little or no reference to the original names.

The film also features appearances by real life NASCAR racers, such as Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant.

This big, powerful engine in such a light car gave the Golden Hawk a phenomenal power-to-weight ratio ( and thus performance ) for the time ; of 1956 American production cars, the Golden Hawk was second only to Chrysler's 300 B by that measure — and the expensive Chrysler was a road-legal NASCAR racing car.

In fact, NASCAR sanctions such " club " racing, offering the Whelen All-American Series as a national championship for the drivers, and an invitational race for club racers, the Toyota All-Star Showdown, a 150-lap race featuring the common Super Late Models with NASCAR-established rules.

** Rusty Wallace wins the Suzuka NASCAR Thunder 100 at Suzuka City November 24, the first NASCAR event held in Japan.

** NASCAR Championship – Rusty Wallace

On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him.

Russell William " Rusty " Wallace, Jr. ( born August 14, 1956 ) is a retired NASCAR race car driver and a former NASCAR Winston Cup Champion, currently a broadcaster on ESPN and a co-host of NASCAR Angels.

He had already won the second race of the season Feb 28th 1993 at North Carolina Motor Speedway but also a sad one as his friend and reigning NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki was killed flying into Bristol Speedway in April 1993, because of this Rusty won the race at Bristol and in respect to Alan Kulwicki he did a " Polish victory lap "— turning his car around and driving around the track the wrong way, as made famous by Kulwicki.

* 2003 – Callaway Golf – Callaway Golf Signs NASCAR Driver Rusty Wallace to Multiyear Endorsement and Licensing Agreement.

* 2009 – Lista International Corporation – Legendary NASCAR Driver Rusty Wallace Endorses Lista Products in New Online Video

* A 2008 ad features former NASCAR driver and ESPN NASCAR analyst Rusty Wallace eating lunch with the University of Delaware mascot YoUDee, but when Wallace can't eat his entire lunch, he gives the rest of his lunch to YoUDee and the mascot was able to swallow the food in one gulp.

Talladega Superspeedway has the record for the fastest recorded time by a NASCAR stock car in a closed oval course, with the record of 216. 309 mph set by Rusty Wallace on June 9, 2004.

Rusty is the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion and winner of 55 Cup Series races.

Nicole Briscoe would replace him as host of NASCAR Countdown alongside Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty.

In the sport of NASCAR, Miller began advertising their Miller Genuine Draft beer on the # 27 Pontiac of Rusty Wallace ( later # 2 ) in 1990.

On June 12, 1988, NASCAR held its final race at RIR – a race won by Rusty Wallace ( a caution flag was out for Ruben Garcia when he came off Turn 9 and lost control of his car and hit a wall, missing the grandstands ).

In addition, two prominent drivers announced that this would be their final season in NASCAR: Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace.

These devices were introduced in 1994 in NASCAR following Rusty Wallace's crash at Talladega.

On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace ( who was a guest that day ), Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him.

Rusty Wallace in his last season before retiring from NASCAR.

Midway through the 2005 season, Busch shocked many in the NASCAR community when he announced that he would be leaving Roush Racing and replacing the retiring Rusty Wallace in the # 2, owned by Penske Racing.

Sacks made 29 out of the 30 races, finished 19th in points and runner-up to Rusty Wallace for the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award.