How I got into NASCAR

I decided it would be good to make a post about my exposure to NASCAR over the years, and how I became a real fan of it.

I discovered NASCAR when I was maybe 4 years old, in 1999. I soon became interested in Dale Earnhardt. My two triplet brothers liked Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, respectively. In fact my brother who liked Gordon may have been the biggest NASCAR fan of the three of us at the time.

The first race I watched on TV was the 2001 Daytona 500, a few months before we turned 6. I was amazed at the huge wreck that sent Tony Stewart flipping along the backstretch. Gordon and Martin were in the crash, but Earnhardt was not, which made me very happy. But then on the final lap, with Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in front of them, Earnhardt and Ken Schrader crashed in turn 4. I remember Michael's brother Darrell cheering him on in the broadcast booth, with the crash happening behind Michael and Dale Jr.

After I heard that Dale had died (which I had figured even at my young age) I sort of made Waltrip my new driver, only because he had won. For the next couple of years I watched snippets of a couple more races. Sometime in 2003, my brothers and I got some free NASCAR notepads. I got Tony Stewart, my Mark Martin fan brother got Dale Jarrett and my Jeff Gordon fan brother just happened to get Gordon. Subequently I started to become a Stewart fan, while my Martin fan brother made Jarrett his second-favorite driver.

In 2005 I watched the last 40 or so laps of the Daytona 500, including Scott Wimmer's flip in a big crash between turns 3 and 4. I was worried at first but relieved when Wimmer was okay. I watched the Daytona 500 again in 2006 but found the finish under caution boring. In 2007, I heard about Clint Bowyer's upside-down finish at Daytona. That's why I rooted for him in the first race I watched from start to finish, the 2007 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire, in which he got his first Cup series win.

In January of 2008, as a seventh-grade student, I got a little book with pictures of NASCAR crashes, close finishes and other "actiony" moments. This led me to watch NASCAR crash videos on YouTube, which took me to clips of the 2001 Daytona 500. It was with this that I learned Michael Waltrip had been driving for Dale Earnhardt at the time, meaning Michael's win was even more significant than I had thought, and that Darrell Waltrip was Michael's older brother. I also learned that it was the very first points race televised by Fox. Then I found out that the 50th Daytona 500 was coming up and was also on Fox. In that race, Tony Stewart almost won, but was defeated by Ryan Newman. After that, Newman became another one of my favorite drivers, along with Stewart, Waltrip and Bowyer. I also became interested in Reed Sorenson for some reason. Pretty soon I decided to add Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin to that list, because they had been my brothers' favorites, as well as Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton.

In June, I first discovered the "minor league" Nationwide Series, and watched Joey Logano win at Kentucky in just his third series start. I became a bigger NASCAR fan after watching the 2009 Daytona 500, after which Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth had become my new favorites. I then set a goal to watch every race of the season, but this only lasted until Las Vegas two weeks later. I also only watched a couple of races in 2010 and 2011, but I did find the 2011 Daytona 500 exciting with Trevor Bayne winning.

But in October of 2011, after IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon's death, I started to get interested in NASCAR again. At the same time, my brothers were caring about it less and less. In 2012 I watched more races, and by the end of the season, champion Brad Keselowski was a new favorite driver of mine, as were Martin Truex Jr. and Bobby Labonte. I finally watched or at least followed every race in 2013, and I continue to do so this year. And that is my NASCAR fandom story!