2008 NASCAR Cup Series (Simpsonverse)

The 2008 NASCAR Cup Series was the 60th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 37th modern-era Cup season. It was contested over thirty-six races, and began on February 9 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race, followed by the 50th Daytona 500 on February 17 and concluded with the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on November 16.

Coors Light replaced Budweiser as the Official Beer of NASCAR, thereby becoming the new sponsor of the Pole Award given to pole winner in each Cup Series race. However, Budweiser was still the official sponsor for Bud Shootout at Daytona in February. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. was crowned champion at season's end.

This was the first season with the upgraded Strictly Stock Car, dubbed the Strictly Stock Car II, which had more safety features, as well as improved accuracy to the showroom model.

Manufacturer Changes

 * Chevrolet replaced the Monte Carlo with the Corvette Z06.
 * After the Avenger proved unimpressive, Dodge opted to replace it with the newly-relaunched Challenger

Strictly Stock Car II
For 2008, the original Strictly Stock Car was replaced by a second-generation version, officially dubbed the Strictly Stock Car II. The car was created in response to Chevrolet and Ford creating carbodies that exploited numerous loopholes in the NASCAR rulebook, which teams would then stretch even further by skewing the cars out of proportion to create more downforce. These asymmetrical cars, especially the Chevrolet Impala, were dominant on tracks where downforce was important, the only parity being at restrictor plate tracks and road courses, where tall noses and bumpers were the rule at Daytona and Talladega to aid in bump drafting, and the bodies for road courses had to be symmetrical due to the presence of right turns.

In addition to reining in Chevrolet and Ford, the new car was also created to give Dodge and Toyota a better chance, and make the cars resemble their showroom counterparts even more than the original Strictly Stock Car. Several teams continued using the original Strictly Stock Car, but most teams made the switch.