Start Your Engines!

Inspired by Griffin Spier's One More Spark, the goal of Start Your Engines! is to focus on various what-if scenarios. All of his ideas will be incorporated, and even more, will be included. The results of every race will be simulated in full using NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season. Included in this timeline are fictional teams such as Pacific Coast Racing, a team founded in 1948 renowned for two things: their ingenuity, and their fanatical devotion to Chrysler and its brands, PCR satellite team Kelman Racing, and Kennedy Racing, a Pontiac team, alongside fictional drivers from various NASCAR video games; users can also add their own teams and/or drivers here. Also, well-known NASCAR busts such as Danica Patrick and Trevor Bayne will have much more success in this timeline.

The following mods will be used for this timeline:

• Cup:
  • 1987-1988: Aero88
  • 1989-1996: Cup90 (Cup Physics version)
  • 1997-1998: WC98
  • 1999-2002: Cup2000
  • 2003: Cup03
  • 2004: Cup04
  • 2005: Cup05
  • 2006-2012: Default Cup
  • 2013-2014: BR Gen6
  • 2015-2016: Gen6 2015
  • 2017: MENCS17
  • 2018: MENCS18
  • 2019-2020: MENCS19
  • 2021-present: NextGen4
• Xfinity:
  • 1988: Aero88
  • 1989-1996: Cup90 (CTS Physics version)
  • 1997-2010: PWF GNS
  • 2011-2012: SRD NWS11
  • 2013-2014: DMR NNS13
  • 2015-2016: NXS16
  • 2017-2018: NXS17
  • 2019-present: SRD NXS20
• Trucks:
  • 1995-2008: PWF CTS
  • 2009-2013: NCTS 09
  • 2014-present: CWS 15
• Dash:
  • 2021-present: Pinty's Series

Detailed race reports, pictures, and additional lore and news for each race can be found on Stunod Racing (look for the threads started by BNSF1995); we used to be on Sim Racing Design, but unfortunately, the Offline Leagues section was taken down without notice. Eventually, the series should go on YouTube once editing software and an excellent-quality microphone could be provided for play-by-play commentary (in-studio scenes would require a camera and a suit and/or cordless microphone or headset depending on the budget), as well as graphics packages and music from the broadcasting networks of the time. The Starting Grid music is "Centipede Circle" by Edd Kalehoff. Paint schemes are done by Trevor807 and several other people.

Not to be confused with TbombtheAltHistorian's timeline Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!.

1987

• What if Tim Richmond was still alive? - After the NASCAR championship banquet in 1986, Tim Richmond fell ill and missed the beginning of the 1987 season. In this what-if, the #25 and #35 ran at the same time.
  • Richmond stayed in the #25 Folgers Chevrolet, and Benny Parsons drove the green #35 Folgers Chevrolet until his 1988 retirement.
  • Ken Schrader stayed in the #90 Ford for Junie Donlavey until the end of the 1996 season. After 1997, Richmond moved to the #12 Ford for Penske Racing. He stayed in the car until his retirement in 2007.
  • Ryan Newman instead drove the #39 from 2002-2008 full-time, moving to the #39 US Army Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009, as in our timeline, then to the #31 JCB Chevrolet at Earnhardt-Childress Racing in 2014, then to the #6 Valvoline Ford at Roush Racing for 2019 (John W. Henry never bought a 50% stake in the team in 2007), and finally back with Team Penske to the #39 in 2020.
  • Meanwhile, Ricky Craven drove the #35 from 1993-98, then Wally Dallenbach, Jr. drove from 1998-99, before Casey Atwood ran select races in 2001 and full-time from 2002-09, then Landon Cassill replaced him from 2010 onwards.
  • Folgers sponsored the #35 car from 1987-88, DuPont sponsored the #35 from 1993-99, GMAC sponsored from 2001-09, and Folgers returned to sponsoring the car in 2010, while GMAC (now rebranded as Ally since 2010) moved to the #25.

What doesn't Change

• Bobby Allison's crash in the Winston 500 still happened.

1988

• What if Bobby Allison never had his crash? - In the 1988 Miller High Life 400, Bobby had a scary crash that wound up ending his career. In this what-if, Allison retired at the end of the 1991 season.
  • The #12 and #84 ran at the same time in the 1989 season.
  • Allison spent his final two seasons driving for his own team.
  • Hut Stricklin drove for Allison in the Busch Series in 1990 and 1991, before replacing him in the Cup Series in 1992.
• What if Chrysler returned in 1988 instead of 2001? - In our timeline, Chrysler tried breaking back into NASCAR with the Chrysler LeBaron, but General Motors and Ford had built unwavering support bases, though the LeBaron was fielded in ARCA from 1989 to 1998 to great success. In this timeline, Chrysler began fielding the LeBaron in the Winston Cup Series in 1988, with eight cars on track, including Tim Johnson (no relation to the Johnsonverse Tim) in the #80, Sterling Marlin in the #44, Phil Parsons in the #55, Michael Waltrip in the #30, Ken Schrader in the #90, Lake Speed in the #83, Jimmy Means in the #52, and Richard Petty in the #43. Chrysler fielded the LeBaron until 1997, when it brought back the Dodge brand with the Dodge Avenger (though Dodge branding was limited to the Chrysler Pentastar on the A-pillar, which has been a Pacific Coast Racing tradition since 1988), then switching to the Intrepid in 1999, then the Stratus (as an interim car until the Charger begins production under NASCAR's homologation rules) in 2004, then the Charger in 2005 and finally the Challenger in 2019, with the Dart being an eligible bodystyle from 2013 to 2016 that several small teams ran. Sabco always fielded Chrysler products since its 1989 inception, and has continued to do so as Chip Ganassi Racing.
• What if Coca-Cola Superspeedway existed? - Coca-Cola Superspeedway is a restrictor-plate fantasy track made by Papyrus for NR2003. It doesn't exist in real life, but in Start Your Engines!, it does, being built outside Denver, CO in 1988 and getting two dates in 1989.
• What if another NASCAR country album was made? - In 1975, a bizarre country album with songs sung by NASCAR drivers of the day (including Richard Petty, Neil Bonnett, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Darrell Waltrip) was released, known as NASCAR Goes Country. In Start Your Engines!, a second album called NASCAR Goes Country: Volume II was released. This new album brought back Petty, Bonnett, Yarborough, Waltrip, and Allison, and also added Dale Earnhardt, Tim Richmond, Rusty Wallace, and then-rookie Tim Johnson. Most of the album ranged from mediocre to cringe-inducing, except for the two songs sung by Johnson, these being "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins (who himself ran several NASCAR races between 1966 and his death in 1982), and the Vaughan Monroe version of "Riders in the Sky", which received praise due to the fact Johnson could actually sing.

What doesn't Change

• Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway is still reconfigured and renamed Richmond International Raceway.
• Phoenix International Raceway still takes the Winston Western 500's old spot on the schedule.
• Restrictor plates are still mandated at Daytona and Talladega.
• The tire war between Goodyear and Hoosier still takes place.

1989

• What if NASCAR never left Riverside? - In this timeline, the residents who complained about the noise were told "deal with it", and the track stayed on the schedule for at least one date, this being the Budweiser 400.
• What if the Winston Cup Series raced at Pike's Peak International Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, and Road America? - In this timeline, PPIR is built in 1984 instead of 1997, and NASCAR makes two stops at Pike's Peak and The Milwaukee Mile. For Pike's Peak, the Coors 400 is run between the Pepsi 400 and Milwaukee's second date, the Mountain Dew 400, which has the side-effect of moving the Diet Coke 400 at Coca-Cola Superspeedway between Phoenix and the season finale at Atlanta, while a second date for Coca-Cola, the Sprite 500, is added between the July Talladega date and Watkins Glen. Milwaukee's first date, the Pabst Blue Ribbon 400, falls between the spring Martinsville and Talladega dates.
• What if Grant Adcox was still alive? - The seat requirement was enacted much earlier. As a result, Adcox survived, and raced until 2006. He may have even won a few races, but we'll see.

What Doesn't Change

• Sears Point Raceway is still added to the Winston Cup schedule, meaning there are now two road course races in California. Sears Point takes the old Budweiser 400 weekend, while the Budweiser 400 is moved to the week between the Autoworks 500 and the Atlanta Journal 500.

1990

• What if Rob Moroso was still alive? - Moroso was a promising BGN prospect. In 1990, he moved to the Cup Series and struggled. In this timeline, Moroso lived, and he became the fourth Chrysler on track along with Richard Petty, Tim Johnson, and Chloe Johnson (who joined the series as a rookie in 1989). Starting in 1999, Moroso Racing and Rudd Performance Racing merged to form Moroso-Rudd Racing, with Moroso in the #82 and Ricky Rudd in the #83. After the 2015 season, Moroso retired. His replacement was Dakoda Armstrong.
• What if there was a superspeedway in the San Francisco Bay Area? - This one is more of a personal what-if for BNSF1995. This track, called San Jose Motorplex, is located in nearby Gilroy. The track used will be Progressive Speedway.
• What if Michigan and Pocono each lost a date? - Until the advent of the Pocono doubleheader, these tracks' two dates were always close together. In this timeline, both tracks lose a date in 1990 in favor of other venues.
• What if Ontario Motor Speedway was never demolished? - In this timeline, the track was still purchased by the Chevron Land Company, but they did so without any idea what they wanted to do with the land, as well as the Ontario Motor Speedway Historical Society taking the company to court in a drawn-out legal battle. By 1987, they settled, and sold the facility to the society. ARCA held a race here in 1988, a 1/2 mile dragstrip was built for NHRA in 1989, and in 1990, the Los Angeles Times 500 was run once again as the season finale, where it stays to this day.
• What if Mark Martin's penalty never happened? - Martin never got his illegal carburetor spacer penalty at Richmond after Tim managed to convince NASCAR CEO Bill France Jr. that it would be a massive misstep.
• What if Willy T. Ribbs returned to NASCAR? - In this timeline, Ribbs returned to NASCAR in 1990 to run the #04 for Kennedy Racing with sponsorship from ShowBiz Pizza Place, which still exists in this timeline due to different management and alternates with Chuck E. Cheese's, depending on the race. Ribbs retired at the end of the 2006 season, with Louise Kennedy replacing him beginning in 2007.

What Doesn't Change

• Ricky Rudd's rear tire changer Mike Rich is still killed at the Atlanta Journal 500 after Bill Elliott spins on pit road, and pit road speed limits and "lollipops" are implemented.
• Days of Thunder is still released, though Cole Trickle's #46 car and other cars were Chrysler LeBarons prepared by PCR instead of Chevrolet Luminas; as a result, the logo for Manny Brown's Chrysler dealerships appears on the hood of Trickle's car rather than the City Chevrolet logo. There is also a scene where, during Cole's troubles, Tim and Chloe Johnson call him a "drunk driver".

1991

• What if NASCAR brought back mid-week races?:
  • With its growing popularity, NASCAR decided to bring back weekday Winston Cup Series racing, mainly at venues that wouldn't otherwise get any spotlight. These races are broadcast (either live or on tape-delay, depending on if it was a night race; this is done to accomodate fans who are at work or school) as part of ESPN's Wednesday Night Thunder, which they still broadcast even under the 2001-2006 and 2015-2024 television packages; Paul Page has always called these races. Among the tracks run on Wednesdays are Five Flags, Langley, South Boston, Myrtle Beach, Motor Mile, Thompson, Nashville (Fairgrounds), Bowman Gray Stadium, Greenville-Pickens, Heartland Park, Road Atlanta, Portland International Speedway, Huntsville, Winchester, Caraway, IRP, among many other short tracks and road courses.
  • The tracks that are raced change every year, with every track part of a rotation; the only tracks guaranteed a spot on the schedule are South Boston, Nashville, Iowa, and Road Atlanta (the latter two by virtue of being owned by NASCAR); tracks were originally planned to be selected by random draw, before it was changed to tracks with a reasonable driving distance to bigger venues for the sake of logistics. A provision was also added during planning that midweek races could only be 200 miles, with a few exceptions such as road courses and tracks that are in markets large enough to justify a 400/500-mile race (out-of-universe, this limit is so seasons won't take forever to complete).
• What if J.D. McDuffie was still alive? - McDuffie retired after the 2000 season (by then, he had only run select events), though he remained a team owner. His replacement was 22-year-old Crissy Hillsworth, who has driven the #70 Pontiac since 2001. 1994 also saw McDuffie's team switch to Chrysler. Wendy’s joined as sponsor in 2003.
• What if the convoluted pit road rules used early in 1991 were never implemented? - Exactly what it says on the tin.

1992

• What if Clifford Allison was still alive? - Allison never had the crash that took his life at Michigan in 1992. He moved up to the Cup Series in 1996, and retired after the 2016 season. He drove the #84 Snickers Ford for Stavola Bros. Racing from 1996 to 1997, the #30 Gumout (later Sara Lee, Viagara, and CF Sauer) Dodge for Bahari/Eel River Racing from 1998 to 2001, the #4 Kodak Chevrolet/Pontiac for Morgan-McClure Racing from 2001 to 2002, and finally the #28 Texaco-Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing from 2003 to 2016.

What Doesn't Change

• Richard Petty still retired at the end of the season.

1993

• What if Jeff Gordon drove for Bill Davis Racing? - The plan was for Gordon to move up to the Cup Series in 1993 to drive the #22 Maxwell House Ford. However, upon being noticed by Rick Hendrick, Gordon immediately jumped ship to Hendrick Motorsports. In this scenario, Gordon drove the #22 Maxwell House Ford in 1993, and stayed in the ride until the 2015 season, after which he retired. This one change has many, MANY knock-on effects:
  • Chase Elliott replaced him in the #22, which was renumbered to #9 for 2018 onwards with permission from Evernham Motorsports
  • Bill Davis Racing's downfall never happened
  • For Gordon's Cup debut in the 1992 Hooters 500, Davis fielded a second car, the #23, with sponsorship from Gordon's then-sponsor in the Busch Series, Baby Ruth
  • Bobby Labonte drove the #23 Baby Ruth car until the end of the 2011 season, with Jason Leffler replacing him from 2012 onwards, as Dale Jarrett stayed in the #18 car
  • John Andretti stayed in the #43 Dodge until retiring after the 2011 season
  • Reed Sorenson stayed in the #41 in 2009, and became a journeyman driver in 2010, Phoenix Racing fielded the #51, and Michael Waltrip fielded the #01; as a side note, Waltrip ran the correct font for the #01 in the 2011 Daytona 500 with the blessing of Dale Earnhardt
  • Ward Burton drove a third car, the #24, from 1996 to 2007 (MBNA sponsored the car from 1996 to 1998, and Caterpillar from 1999 onward)
  • Scott Wimmer has driven the #24 since 2008
  • Randy LaJoie stayed in the Busch Series
  • The #23 Winston Ford fielded by Travis Carter from 1994-1999 is instead the #32
  • Penske's #22 is instead the #02, and had the same drivers as in real life (Kurt Busch in 2011, A.J. Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr. in 2012, and Joey Logano from 2013 to the present day); after Chase Elliott switched to #9 in 2018, the #02 at Penske became the #22, reserving the #02 for any R&D cars Pacific Coast Racing may wish to run
  • BDR switched to Chrysler in 1994 instead of Pontiac (thanks to Jeff Gordon's strong rookie campaign in 1993, this move dealt a major blow to Ford), and remains loyal to Chrysler, as they never switched to Toyota in any series
  • The #24 that William Byron currently drives in real life is the #5, as was the original plan; its sponsorship comes from Farmers Insurance and Liberty University
  • Andrew Murstein formed his own team with Doug Bergeron, DGB-Medallion Racing, in 2009, fielding the #09 car (from 2009-2011, the driver was A.J. Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose drove the car from 2012-2014; Ambrose stayed in the #47 until 2011, and Sam Hornish, Jr. drove from 2015 onward); Bergeron's share was bought out by Murstein at the end of 2014, and the team is now simply known as Medallion Racing. The team fielded Dodges in 2009, Fords from 2010-2017, and Chevys from 2018 onward.
  • The famous DuPont scheme is still seen, but instead of the #24 car (as that number was taken by Bill Davis Racing), it's on the #35 driven by Ricky Craven from 1993 to 1998 (Steve Grissom drove the #41 in 1995 and 1996, while Robert Pressley drove the #29 during those years, and Jeff Green drove the #33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet; the ill-fated ISM Racing entry sponsored by Tabasco has the number 45 instead), then Wally Dallenbach Jr. from 1998 to 1999, at which point sponsorship was transferred over to the #25 car after Budweiser jumped ship for DEI; from 2000 to 2002, Jack Sprague drove the #25, with Brian Vickers taking over in 2003, driving the car for only a year until Ricky Hendrick moved up to the Nextel Cup Series in 2004 and took over; he still runs the #25 Axalta Chevrolet to this day.
• What if Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison were still alive? - Kulwicki's plane crash almost happened in this timeline, but the plane was hijacked by a pilot who knew what he was doing, and successfully landed the plane; a shaken Kulwicki vowed to take Amtrak from that day forward. Davey Allison, meanwhile, never had his helicopter crash at all. Kulwicki continued driving for his own team, switching to Chrysler in 1995, and retired after the 2009 season, while Allison left Yates in 2003 to drive the #90 Fujifilm Ford (which had been acquired from the remains of Donlavey Racing) for Steele Racing with Brett Favre (now Brett Favre Racing after the death of Harold Steele in 2011), and retired after the 2012 season.
• What if Cale Yarborough successfully fielded the Mercury Cougar? - See this link. Because he successfully fielded it, Mercury returned to NASCAR for the first time since 1980 (barring Mercury engine parts used by Pacific Coast Racing during the "Junkrat" years and the Mercuries that ran in the Busch Series, Goody's Dash Series, and ARCA), and lured back their old golden boys, Wood Brothers Racing; they switched to the Sable in 1997, and continued running until Ford pulled them and Lincoln at the end of 2002, though Sables could still be found in the Busch Series throughout 2003, and they lingered in ARCA as late as 2009. On NR2003, it will be used on a Chevrolet body, as no 1993 Mercury Cougar body exists in the Cup90 mod. Mercury stays in NASCAR until the end of 2002, using this template from 1999 to 2002 (1997-98 will probably use layer parts from the Cup2000 template).

What Doesn't Change

• New Hampshire International Speedway is still added to the Winston Cup schedule.
• Electronic scoring is still introduced.

1994

• What if Neil Bonnett was still alive? - Bonnett never had the crash at the 1990 TranSouth 500 at Darlington. From 1990, he drove the #31 Mom 'N' Pop's Country Ham Lumina for Richard Childress before retiring at the end of 1996. He then became a broadcaster for TNN and later NBC/TBS full-time. As a result, Dale Jarrett drove for Wood Brothers Racing in 1990.
• What if Rodney Orr was still alive? - Orr ran full-time in 1994, and didn't do terribly, but gradually improved in performance as time passed. He retired after the 2011 season.
• What if Ernie Irvan never had his crashes? - Irvan drove the #88 for Robert Yates Racing until retiring at the end of the 2008 season. Dale Jarrett drove the #18 Interstate Batteries car for Joe Gibbs Racing until his 2008 retirement. Kyle Busch stayed in the #5 Kellogg's car for another year, and Casey Mears continued the #25 National Guard car for another year as well.
• What if Shawna Robinson had a better ride? - With the success of Johnson, Armstrong and Smith, Robinson was called up to drive the #81 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing from 1994-1998, being replaced by rookie Tony Stewart for 1999 and the car renumbered to #20. Robinson moved to the #84 Miller High Life Dodge for Moroso-Rudd Racing from 1999 until her 2015 retirement.

What Doesn't Change

• NASCAR still starts racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• Ayrton Senna is still killed at the San Marino Grand Prix, and the winner of the Winston Select 500 dedicates it to him.

1995

• What if GMC entered NASCAR? - When the Craftsman Truck Series was created in 1994, General Motors entered GMC as the fourth manufacturer. Their reasoning was so the series would have a Pontiac equivalent. Factory support for GMC was pulled after the 1999 season, but GMC Sierras could still be seen as late as 2002.

What Doesn't Change

• The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is still created.

1996

• What if Casey Elliott was still alive? - In 1994, Elliott planned to move up to the Busch Series. However, he would succumb to bone cancer in 1996 at only 22. In this scenario, Elliott never had his cancer, and was able to move up to the Busch Series and eventually the Cup Series in 1996 in the #94. Because of this, his uncle Bill Elliott used the #9 in honor of Melling Racing, the team he drove for from 1981 to 1991, as he used the #94 in honor of his nephew, with Melling using the #92 instead. For the 1997 Brickyard 400, Ron Barfield ran the #93. Elliott still drives the #19 Dodge, and will retire after the 2021 season.

1997

• What if John Nemechek was still alive? - Either his crash never happened, or it did, but he survived. Either way, he moves up to the Winston Cup Series in 1999, and is still racing today. Because he survives, John Hunter Nemechek is simply known as Hunter Nemechek.
• What if Tim Steele never had his crash? - In 1998, Steele started driving the #15 Nike/Sony Ford owned by his father Harold and Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Steele retired after the 2016 season, and Parker Kligerman was his replacement. Greg Biffle instead drove the #06 for Jack Roush.
• What if NASCAR never left North Wilkesboro? - Instead of sending both of North Wilkesboro's races to Texas and New Hampshire, respectively, the historic track retained the Tyson Holly Farms 400, moved to a former off-weekend.
• What if Oldsmobile returned? - In 1997, with the advent of the SAFER Car, the Oldsmobile Alero was one of the eligible bodystyles; there was some debate as to whether it was truly an Alero, as it was built on the GM W platform (the same platform used by the Pontiac Grand Prix of the time), and therefore should have been the Oldsmobile Intrigue; however, the Intrigue wouldn't begin production until May 5 of that year, meaning it was ineligible under NASCAR's homologation rules. Only a few small teams ran the model, did not do well due to a lack of factory support, and Oldsmobile quietly left for the last time at the end of 1998, never to be seen again before shutting down altogether in 2004; Aleros could still be found in the Busch Series as late as 2002, and ARCA as late as 2011. It will use this template.

What Doesn't Change

• Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway still join the schedule. The former comes under heated circumstances, as Texas World Speedway had heavily lobbied to be put back on the schedule after completing the necessary work to get the track back to NASCAR standards. After a drawn-out legal fight over the course of 1996, a compromise is reached: Texas Motor Speedway will hold races on odd-numbered years, and Texas World Speedway on even-numbered years; conversely, the track that doesn't hold any NASCAR races that year will instead host IndyCar, and vice-versa.
• Atlanta Motor Speedway is still reconfigured.
• Homestead-Miami Speedway is also still reconfigured, though to ensure better competition.

1998

• What if the #64 Arby's FansTeam car actually raced? - In 1997, Bahari Racing co-owner Dick Bahre planned to start a team funded by fans that would debut in the 1998 season. The car number was going to be the #64, and would've been sponsored by Arby's. However, the team didn't get the required 2,500 signatures in time, and Arby's dropped out, with Bahre moving to Mansion Motorsports. In this scenario, the team races a Chevrolet in the 1998 season (as one t-shirt and the TNN website showed a Chevy), with a rookie from a different series driving. For more, see this link.
• What if Lincoln returned to NASCAR? - See this link. In 1998, Lincoln became the sixth manufacturer in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (fielding the Mark VIII, later rebadged as the Continental in 1999 due to the Mark VIII being discontinued in 1998), alongside Chevrolet (with the Monte Carlo), Dodge (with the Avenger), Ford (with the new Taurus), Mercury (with the Sable), and Pontiac (with the Grand Prix). Like Mercury, it, too, left NASCAR in 2003 due to the Ford Motor Company paring its focus down to just its main marquee in order to counter the growing threat presented by Dodge; Lincolns could still be seen in the Busch Series as late as 2006, and at least three are still running in ARCA. On NR2003, it will use this template from 1999 to 2002, and these template layers for 1998 only.
• What if the Florida wildfires never happened? - The Pepsi 400 was held in July and broadcast on CBS as planned. Jeff Green and Geoff Bodine ran the paint schemes that wound up unused in OTL (Green's Tampa Bay Rays scheme and Bodine's patriotic scheme).
• What if Steve Park didn't have either of his wrecks (1998 and 2001)? - Park wound up being a much better driver; he stayed with DEI until the end of the 2005 season, and went back to the Truck Series for 2006 onwards due to being more comfortable there. Darrell Waltrip stayed in the #17 Speedblock Chevrolet for the rest of the season (Speedblock paid their checks in this timeline), while the #45 Tabasco Pontiac shut down after 1998 with Todd Bodine and Rich Bickle sharing the car in 1998. Waltrip still sold his team to Tim Beverly after the season, however.

What Doesn't Change

• Las Vegas Motor Speedway still joins the schedule.

1999

• What if Darrell Waltrip drove for DEI instead of Travis Carter? - In real life, Waltrip had a horrible tenure with Travis Carter, missing several races during that time. Before Waltrip drove for Travis Carter, there were rumors that, if Waltrip couldn't find a ride, he would drive a second car for DEI, using equipment acquired from Buzz McCall's American Equipment Racing team. In this timeline, Waltrip drove the #17 MBNA Chevrolet for DEI in 1999 and 2000; he still retired after the 2000 season and became a color commentator for Fox from 2001 to 2019. The #17 was taken by his brother Michael, who used the number for his Michael Waltrip Racing team starting in 2007 (Roush's #17 team IOTL is instead #66). The #66 (which still became #23) was driven by Todd Bodine instead.
• What if the three-digit numbers were reinstated? - Before the 1999 season, it was announced that, because the amount of cars entering each race outstripping the amount of available numbers between 0-99, for the first time since 1971, three-digit numbers could be fielded once again.

What Doesn't Change

• Homestead-Miami Speedway is still added to the schedule, but in this case, as part of the year-to-year midweek rotation.

2000

• What if Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, and Tony Roper were still alive? - In 2001, Petty and Roper began running in the Winston Cup Series full-time, with Petty in the #45 Sprint Intrepid and Tony Roper in the #63 TracFone Monte Carlo. Irwin stayed in the #42 Cingular Intrepid. Kyle Petty stayed in the #44 car until his 2008 retirement, with a better send-off; he's currently the listed owner of Adam's #45 Dodge. Buckshot Jones stayed in the Busch Series. Michael Waltrip Racing started as a two-car operation with the #01 and #55 due to Dale Jarrett staying at JGR.
• What if Cale Yarborough was still a team owner? - Yarborough still fields the #98 today. The car fielded by Mike Curb, Phil Parsons and then Premium Motorsports from 2011-2016 is instead the #89.
• What if Nickelodeon sponsored a NASCAR stock car? - Since 2000, Nickelodeon has sponsored the #32 Ford (later Chevrolet) for PPI Racing. It was driven by Jerry Nadeau from 2000 to 2007, and is currently driven by former Hendrick developmental driver Boston Reid. Go FAS Racing instead fields the #65. As an aside, Nickelodeon is not mismanaged in this timeline due to someone other than Cyma Zarghami or Brian Robbins heading the network. The rundown of represented shows:
  • 2000: Generic scheme
  • 2001: Invader Zim
  • 2002: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Fairly OddParents (alternates races)
  • 2003: My Life as a Teenage Robot
  • 2004: Danny Phantom and Drake & Josh (alternates races)
  • 2005: Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • 2006: All Grown Up
  • 2007: Back at the Barnyard
  • 2008: iCarly
  • 2009: The Penguins of Madagascar
  • 2010: T.U.F.F. Puppy and Victorious (alternates races)
  • 2011: Winx Club
  • 2012: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Legend of Korra (alternates races)
  • 2013: Adventure Time
  • 2014: Henry Danger
  • 2015: Harvey Beaks
  • 2016: The Loud House
  • 2017: Welcome to the Wayne
  • 2018: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • 2019: SpongeBob SquarePants 20th Anniversary and Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty (alternates races)
  • 2020: The Casagrandes and It's Pony (alternates races)
  • 2021: The Patrick Star Show
  • 2022: Middlemost Post
• What if the Unocal 76 Challenge was never discontinued? - The award program for winning from the pole was never discontinued, still existing today as the Sunoco Challenge.

2001

• What if Dale Earnhardt was still alive? - Earnhardt's crash never happened, and he continued driving the #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet until retiring at the end of 2003 following a farewell tour to drive the Corvettes between 2004 and 2008, at which point Kevin Harvick (who drove the #30 AOL car in 2002 and 2003) inherited the car; Harvick left for Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the 2013 season, and Austin Dillon has driven the car ever since. Earnhardt's survival also has numerous knock-on effects for the future of NASCAR as a whole. This also means Ron Fellows moved to the Cup Series in 2002 to drive the #81 Pennzoil Chevy, which he ran until 2005. Earnhardt ran select events for DEI in 2004 and 2005 in the #33 Wrangler Chevy before retiring for good. He also currently runs select events for the SRX, using his trademark #3.
• What if the double yellow line rule was never implemented? - Self-explanatory.
• What if Jimmie Johnson drove for DEI? - Since Jeff Gordon drove for Bill Davis instead of Rick Hendrick, he never discovered Jimmie Johnson. Instead, Jimmie was signed by DEI to drive the #3 Lowe's Chevrolet in the Busch Series for 2001, and moved up to the Cup Series in 2002, using the #48. He still retired after the 2020 season, and Kyle Larson has replaced him ever since.
• What if Turner put NASCAR races on TBS instead of TNT under the 2001-2006 television contract? - In our timeline, Turner originally intended to put races on TBS, but when TNT introduced their new slogan "We Know Drama", they moved NASCAR to that network. In this timeline, NASCAR remained on TBS, broadcasting the same races TNT did between 2001 and 2014, using the classic NASCAR on TBS theme, "Zipliner".
• What if CBS was still in NASCAR? - In this timeline, CBS is still in NASCAR, under the 2001-2006, 2007-2014, and 2015-2024 television contracts, using the classic 1998-2000 theme and much of its broadcasting team; Ken Squier returned to the booth after Mike Joy left for Fox, while Greg Gumbel took over hosting duties. CBS broadcasts the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and the summer portion of the schedule.
• What if Blaise Alexander was still alive? - Blaise drove a third Evernham car, the #91 for five races in 2002, before moving up to the Cup Series in 2003. He stayed in the ride until the end of 2003, after which he left for Penske Racing to drive the #77 from 2004 to 2010 (Michael Waltrip stayed with DEI for one more season in the #01). Between 2011 and 2020, Blaise drove the #2 for the same team, retiring after the 2020 season; Austin Cindric took over the car in 2021. Brad Keselowski has driven the fourth Hendrick car, the #52, since 2010 (Mark Martin drove the #52 in 2009 as a one-year stopgap, before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing from 2010 to 2013).
• What if Casey Atwood wasn’t rushed up to the Cup Series? - Atwood stayed in the #27 for 2001, and did five races for Hendrick Motorsports in a third car, the #35. He moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 2002 in the car, and moved to Evernham Motorsports in 2010 in the #91.

What Doesn't Change

• Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway are still added to the schedule. However, like with the Texas tracks, Chicagoland is run on odd-numbered years, while Chicago Motor Speedway is run in even-numbered years, and the track that didn't host a NASCAR race that year hosts IndyCar.
• Kentucky Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway are still added to the Busch Series schedule, with Kentucky eventually getting a coveted weekend race in the Sprint Cup Series in 2011 (bumping The Milwaukee Mile's remaining date to a midweek slot), and Nashville Superspeedway becomes one of the many, many midweek races in rotation starting in 2004. As of June 3, 2020, the "what-if" of Nashville Superspeedway hosting a Cup Series event of any kind is now outdated, as the Cup Series will indeed go to Nashville Superspeedway in 2021.
• 9/11 still happened, and the New Hampshire 300 was still delayed.
• Tony Stewart's flip in the Daytona 500 still occurred.

2002

• What if Ricky Hendrick never had his injuries and was still alive? - Ricky never had the injuries that forced him into retirement, and as a result, drove the #5 car in 2002 and 2003 full-time, with Brian Vickers driving the #55 instead. The Hendrick plane crash still happened, but there were multiple survivors, including Ricky, John Hendrick's twin daughters Kimberly and Jennifer, and pilot Elizabeth Morrison; everyone else aboard, including general manager Jeff Turner, chief engine builder Randy Dorton, DuPont executive Joe Jackson, Tony Stewart's pilot Scott Lathram, and the other pilot, Richard Tracy, were killed. Morrison was booked on charges of reckless endangerment. Hendrick moved up to the Cup Series in 2004 in the #25 car, which he still drives today. Brian Vickers drove the #52 from 2004 to 2006, and Casey Mears drove the car in 2007 and 2008.

What Doesn't Change

• Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes still dies in a car crash, and all of the DEI cars still honor her by painting a black stripe under their left headlight decals.

2003

• What if Jerry Nadeau never had his career-ending crash? - Nadeau stayed in the #32 Nickelodeon Ford until 2007, before joining Hendrick from 2008 to his 2017 retirement, in the #5 Amp Energy/Mountain Dew car. Mark Martin drove the #52 for 2009, before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing from 2010 to his 2013 retirement to drive the #66 Burger King Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne remains at Evernham Motorsports.
• What if the No Bull 5 stuck around for one more year? - In this timeline, the No Bull 5 was held for one more year before Nextel took over title sponsorship of the Cup Series.

What Doesn't Change

• Pontiac still leaves at the end of the season, but in this timeline, they never go under and eventually return in 2015 (more on that below).
• The Approved Body Configuration (ABC) is still introduced (represented by the Cup03-5 cars from 2003-05, and Default Cup from 2006 to 2012).

2004

• What if the Chase never happened? - With the replacement of Winston with Nextel as the title sponsor for the Cup Series, Brian France wanted to incorporate a postseason playoffs for the last ten races called the "Chase for the Cup". Dale Earnhardt, however, balked at the idea of NASCAR "copying the NFL", and France, wary of alienating one of the sport's biggest drivers, backed down and kept the 1975 Bob Latford format in place.
• What if the Green-White-Checkered finish was never implemented? - This is a simple one. The GWC is never implemented, and neither was freezing the field on a caution. This one is for practical reasons, owing to limitations with NR2003.
• What if there was no video game exclusivity? - In this timeline, EA Sports never scored the exclusive license to make NASCAR games, though they still make NASCAR games. Papyrus released NASCAR Racing: 2004 Season (NR2004) alongside EA Sports' NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup, and continues making NASCAR games to this day, having released NASCAR Racing: 2020 Season (NR2020) alongside NASCAR 21 and Atari's NASCAR Heat 2021. The difference between the three series is night-and-day:
  • The EA Sports games are more arcadey, though still realistic enough. NASCAR 09 used manufacturers, NASCAR 10 reintroduced production cars, and also introduced the NASCAR Camping World East and West Series. NASCAR 11 saw the return of Fight to the Top mode (with new features such as factory support for owned teams, the ability to create and name your own team and hire multiple drivers, and the ability to purchase equipment from other teams or use older-model cars such as the Ford Taurus or Dodge Stratus or even some brands that are not in NASCAR, such as Oldsmobile, Buick, Mercury, Lincoln, and others; players can also play Fight to the Top without a 20-season limit like previous games had done), and also did away with fantasy drivers in the Whelen Modified Tour in favor of real drivers such as Mike Stefanik, Ron Silk, and Bobby Santos III; it also added the Whelen All-American Series, which players now start out driving in in Fight to the Top driving pavement late models. NASCAR 12 introduced the new Nationwide Series bodystyle and manufacturers to the Camping World Truck Series and Whelen Modified Tour. NASCAR 13 brought back the Swap Car command, and added the ARCA Racing Series. NASCAR 14 introduced the new bodystyle for the SAFER Car, as well as revamped Fight to the Top to add midweek races to the Sprint Cup Series. On an unrelated note, EA never fell to greed in this timeline; in fact, the company is heavily against microtransactions and loot boxes, and doesn't milk the franchises they acquire.
  • NASCAR Heat focuses on immersion. Every game since Dirt to Daytona has used the same style of career mode, though starting with NASCAR Heat 2004, Infogrames followed EA Sports' lead and added the Busch Series; that game also had the option to use a Pontiac body in the Busch Series, and replaced the street stocks in the Dodge Racing Series with dirt late models (though the street stocks were brought back in NASCAR Heat 2009). Proceeding games would take inspiration from EA Sports, adding such features as a Team Communicator (though with more complex commands), various challenges, more unlockables, and eventually replacing fantasy drivers altogether with more obscure real drivers.
  • NASCAR Racing Season is a simulator first and foremost. NASCAR Racing: 2004 Season, too, took notes from EA, and added the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series by default, as well as a more in-depth career mode and replay data being saved while accelerating time. NASCAR Racing: 2010 Season took note of the growing offline league community and added a director's mode that allows races to be edited and posted to YouTube. This also means that Papyrus didn't shut down in this timeline. We’ll go more in-depth on all these games on a later date.
• What if the grandfather clause didn't exist?
• What if Kevin Grubb never did drugs? - This means that Grubb is still a regular in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and is still alive.

What Doesn't Change

• Toyota still enters the Truck Series with the Tundra.

2005

• What if NASCAR never left Rockingham? - The Ferko lawsuit was declared a mistrial (through a set of complex circumstances), and as a result, not only did Texas and California not get their second dates, but Darlington and Rockingham still retain both of their dates, including the Southern 500 being on Labor Day weekend. In 2006, Texas and California did get second dates, but they were part of the midweek rotation.
• What if Racing Champions and Hot Wheels still produced diecasts? - In this timeline, neither company left NASCAR, and still makes diecasts alongside Lionel.

What Doesn't Change

• Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd still retire at the end of the season, after going on a joint retirement tour with Dale Earnhardt.
• Mark Martin still announces he's retiring at the end of 2005, but doesn't actually do so until 2013.
• The Busch Series still starts racing in Mexico. However, they are still racing there today along with Montreal.

2006

• What if Shane Hmiel never did drugs?

What Doesn't Change

• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Cars are still released. As in Days of Thunder, Tim and Chloe make cameo appearances in both movies.

2007

• What if the Car of Tomorrow was never made? - Because Dale Earnhardt never died, NASCAR wasn't spurred to make safety enhancements. For one, they had already mandated the HANS Device after Greg Moore was killed in a CART crash at California Speedway in 1999, and numerous safety enhancements had already been implemented with the new body in 1997, colloquially called the SAFER Car. The controversial CoT, as a result, never existed, and the Gen-4 car stuck around until 2013, when it was replaced by the Gen-6 car, though in this timeline, the car was merely a new body for the SAFER Car to better reflect cars in the showrooms, which had become taller since 1997. It was replaced by the new Next Gen car in 2021, again a new body for the SAFER Car chassis to better reflect car design trends.
• What if Benny Parsons was still alive? - In this timeline, Parsons' cancer never occurred. He joined the TBS broadcast crew for the 2007-2014 contract as planned, and rejoined NBC's crew under the 2015-2024 contract in place of Steve Letarte. As of 2021, he is still active as a color commentator for NBC/NBCSN at the age of 80.
• What if Hoosier returned? - In late 2006, Goodyear workers went on strike, putting tire production in jeopardy. NASCAR met with Hoosier and created a backup plan that called for Hoosier to produce tires for the 2007 season. In our timeline, the strike ended before the plan was needed, but in Start Your Engines!, it didn't, and most of the season was run on Hoosier tires across all three national series and all regional series that had been running Goodyears. Hoosier's return ended up being one of the top stories of Speedweeks, along with the various cheating scandals during qualifying. Goodyear tires finally returned in time for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega in the fall.

What Doesn't Change

• Toyota still entered the Nextel Cup and Busch Series with the Camry.
• Bobby Hamilton still died.

2008

• What if Dale Earnhardt Jr. never left DEI? - Because his father never died, Junior didn't become disillusioned with the team under his stepmother Teresa's control (as a side note, Dale Sr. would eventually divorce Teresa in 2008 in a very messy, very public divorce that dominated the headlines of Speedweeks 2008), and he remained in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet until his 2019 retirement. In 2020, his nephew Jeffrey (who had driven the #33 since his 2012 rookie campaign) took over, and flourished. Jeffrey was replaced in the #33 by rookie Daniel Hemric.

What Doesn't Change

• The Great Recession still happens.
• The Nextel Cup Series still becomes the Sprint Cup Series, and the Busch Series still becomes the Nationwide Series.

2009

• What if Yates Racing never went under? - In this timeline, Robert Yates continued owning his team until his 2017 death; his son Doug took control and renamed it to Yates Racing in the 2018 season. Yates still acquired the #96 Hall of Fame Racing team, however.
• What if Jeremy Mayfield was clean? - Because Mayfield was clean, he was more successful in NASCAR. He spent his final years in the #88 for Robert Yates from 2009 (replacing Ernie Irvan) to his 2015 retirement.
• What if Dale Earnhardt Inc. never merged with Chip Ganassi Racing?:
  • Instead of merging with CGR, DEI instead merged with Richard Childress Racing to stave off the effects of the Great Recession, forming Earnhardt-Childress Racing (ECR), a six-car operation (in this timeline, the four-car limit was never established in 2010).
  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued driving the #8 Budweiser car, Martin Truex, Jr. kept the #1 Bass Pro Shops car, Kevin Harvick stayed in the #3 Reese's car, Jeff Burton retained the #31 Caterpillar car, Jimmie Johnson was retained in the #48 Lowe's car, and Clint Bowyer moved over to the #30 Cheerios car; teams that didn't work pre-merger were eliminated, these being the #17 of Paul Menard and the #01 of Regan Smith (inherited from MB2 Motorsports). In addition, the #14 driven by Sterling Marlin (who retired at the end of 2008) was absorbed into the #1 team.
  • Because of this, CGR never switched to Chevy from Dodge, and remained a three-car operation with the #40 of David Stremme, the #41 of Reed Sorenson, and the #42 of Juan Pablo Montoya. From 2010-2018, Jamie McMurray returned to Ganassi to replace Stremme in the #40, like in real life, though McMurray used the #40 instead of the #1. Bryan Clauson took the #41 since 2010, and like in real life, Kyle Larson replaced Montoya in the #42 for 2014 onward.
  • Beginning in 2012, Matt Kenseth replaced Bowyer in the #30.
  • The #41 for Stewart-Haas Racing is instead the #00.
  • The current lineup for ECR is Truex in the #1, Austin Dillon in the #3, Jeffrey Earnhardt in the #8, Tyler Reddick in the #30, Ty Dillon in the #31, and Daniel Hemric in the #33. Because of this, Kurt Busch stayed with Furniture Row Racing until the end of the 2018 season, and Stewart-Haas Racing hired Ryan Truex to drive the #00 Haas Automation Chevy (later Pontiac). For the 2019 season onwards, Busch has used the #40. Hillman Racing used the #140 instead, Casey Mears is still at Germain Racing, and Cole Custer still replaced Ryan from 2020 onwards.
• What if Petty Enterprises never merged with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports? - In this timeline, Petty Enterprises was more successful in the 2000s, as Adam Petty brought renewed confidence and more sponsorship money to the team (STP rejoined the team in 2003, though this time, sponsoring the #45 full-time due to STP's desire to sponsor a Petty). Because of this, owner Richard Petty saw no need to merge with any team. Petty Enterprises is currently a six-car operation with the #04 Smithfield Dodge of Aric Almirola, the #07 7-Eleven Dodge of Daniel Suárez, the #43 Click n' Close Dodge of Bubba Wallace, the #44 Twisted Tea Dodge of Chad McCumbee, the #45 STP Dodge of Adam Petty, and the #46 Mello Yello Dodge of Austin Petty (who ran for ROTY in 2003), and is widely considered the best team on the grid, reaching levels unseen since Richard himself drove the #43. Evernham (Gillett was bought out by Evernham in late 2010) currently fields the #19 and #91 entries for Casey Elliott and Ross Chastain, respectively. The #19 car that Joe Gibbs fields for Carl Edwards is instead the #54, and Gaunt Brothers Racing remained a part-time operation.

What Doesn't Change

• Tony Stewart still left Joe Gibbs Racing to become an owner-driver for Stewart-Haas Racing. However, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and sponsor Home Depot followed him to the #14 Chevrolet, and Chevron took over as sponsor of the #20 until being replaced by Dollar General in 2013 and DeWalt in 2015 with the coming of Matt Kenseth.
• The Craftsman Truck Series still becomes the Camping World Truck Series.

2010

• What if Brian Vickers was always healthy? - Vickers ran the full season in 2010. He has run the #55 car for Michael Waltrip Racing since 2012 full-time.
• What if the five-car limit was never abolished? - Self-explanatory. NASCAR instead expanded the limit to six cars, allowing Earnhardt-Childress Racing to expand to a six-car operation in 2012 with Jeffrey Earhnardt driving the #81 Cessna Chevrolet, and Petty Enterprises to do the same in 2016 with Matt DiBenedetto driving the #07 7-Eleven Dodge.
• What if Roush Racing never went under? - Because the team gained new confidence, Roush remains one of the most consistent teams on the grid, with Greg Biffle continuing to drive the #06 Ford today.

2011

• What if the Sprint Cup Series raced at Iowa Speedway? - Along with the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, the Sprint Cup Series began racing at Iowa in 2011.
• What if Trevor Bayne wasn't a bust? - Bayne became a dependable driver upon moving up to the Cup Series full-time in 2012. He still drives for Wood Brothers Racing. This means that Paul Menard drove the #12 with Ryan Blaney in the #39 (the second Furniture Row Racing car is the #87 instead), and after his retirement, Ryan Newman reunited with Penske for 2020 driving the #39 Menard's Dodge, and Ty Majeski replaced him in the #6.
• What if tandem drafting never existed? - Since the Car of Tomorrow never existed, neither did their flat noses. Although the superspeedway bodies used for the SAFER Car do have flat noses, the rear bumpers aren't low enough to make the tandem viable.

What doesn't change

• Dan Wheldon is still killed in an IndyCar race at Las Vegas, and all cars carry tributes to him the next weekend at Talladega.

2012

• What if Team Red Bull was still in NASCAR? - Scott Speed continued driving the #182 (as 82 and 83 were taken by Moroso-Rudd Racing) until 2014, when he decided to focus on his Global Rallycross Championship career. A. J. Allmendinger returned to the team to replace Speed, and the car was renumbered back to #184. David Reutimann replaced Brian Vickers in the #83, and Alex Bowman drove the #182 as a third car in 2014; Matt DiBenedetto replaced him in 2015. After he left at the conclusion of 2015, the #82 was shut down. When Reutimann retired after the 2020 season, Justin Haley took over the #83.

What Doesn't Change

• Juan Pablo Montoya still destroyed a jet dryer at the Daytona 500.
• The row between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer still occurred, though at Coca-Cola instead of Phoenix.

2013

• What if Jason Leffler was still alive? - Because Kenny Irwin, Jr. survived, Leffler didn't move to the Cup Series until 2002, when he started driving the third car for Joe Gibbs Racing. With more Cup experience, Leffler knew what to do to prevent his tragic accident from happening.
• What if Tony Stewart never broke his leg? - Because he never did so, his performance never started slipping, combined with a more liberal rules package that perfectly suited his driving style and the Kevin Ward Jr. affair never happening. As of 2020, Stewart is still active in the Cup Series, still driving the #14 Pontiac (more on that below).
• What if Spingate never happened? - Because the Chase never existed, Spingate was rendered pointless. Michael Waltrip Racing is still competitive, and NAPA never left the team (as an aside, MWR never expanded to three cars until 2015, when Brett Moffitt was signed to drive the #56; NAPA was on the #55 instead; the team switched to Honda as its star team in 2015). Aaron's sponsors Chase Elliott instead, and its spot in the #55 is taken by AAA Insurance. Clint Bowyer stayed with the #17 team until the end of the 2018 season, being replaced by Michael's daughter Macy Waltrip.
• What if Dodge never left NASCAR? - In this timeline, Dodge maintained a loyal base, including Team Penske, Moroso-Rudd Racing, McDuffie Racing, Bill Davis Racing, Petty Enterprises, Evernham Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing, and of course, Pacific Coast Racing. The merger with Fiat still happened, but they allowed Dodge to remain in the sport due to their base, and is even considering bringing Plymouth back as a performance car brand for the 2022 season.
• What if Danica Patrick wasn't a bust? - This may seem blunt, but let's face it, she was a bust (Black Flags Matter says so). In this timeline, emboldened by the successes of Chloe Johnson, Belle Armstrong, and Jenny Smith (again, no relation to their Johnsonverse counterparts), Patrick found more success in NASCAR, and is still in the #10. Aric Almirola and Smithfield are still at Petty Enterprises.
• What if Robby Gordon stayed in NASCAR? - Gordon still runs road courses every season. He switched from Dodge to Nissan for 2021.

What Doesn't Change

• What we know as the Generation 6 car is still introduced, but in this timeline, instead of being a new body for the Car of Tomorrow chassis that is marketed as a new car, it is a new body for the existing SAFER Car chassis, the first major update since the introduction of the Approved Body Configuration (ABC) in 2003. The main goal was to return the "stock" in stock car, as the low-profile bodies of the original SAFER Car design did not lend themselves to properly representing the cars in the showrooms, especially the Dodge Charger, whose NASCAR counterpart was too sleek compared to the muscle car it actually is; the Nationwide Series had fixed this by introducing its own new body for the SAFER Car in 2011, better representing the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger (though their version of the Chevrolet Impala was given the derisive name "Frankenpala", and the Nationwide Camry was also too angular compared to its street counterpart; this was intentional on NASCAR's part to prevent a new Aero War from breaking out, though one did break out in the Sprint Cup Series once Pontiac and Honda made their entrance).

2015

• What if Pontiac never went under? - In this timeline, while Pontiac still left NASCAR at the end of 2003 (with one or two being run in the Cup Series until 2004, the Busch Series until 2005, and in ARCA as late as 2007), they never went bust during the Great Recession; instead, Buick went bust, and Pontiac was reorganized as GM's performance division, selling the Grand Prix, G6, G8, Trans-Am, Firebird, and GTO. GM, wanting to counter the growing threat from Dodge and Toyota, elected to bring Pontiac back to NASCAR in 2015 with the G8 in the Sprint Cup Series, and the Firebird in the Xfinity Series (they had already been providing factory support for the Whelen Modified Tour and Pinty's Series). The model would change over the years (in the Cup Series, Pontiac switched to the G6 in 2017, then to the Trans-Am in 2019), but it's still Pontiac. Their flagship team is Stewart-Haas Racing.
• What if Honda entered NASCAR? - 2015 also sees Honda throw its hat into the NASCAR ring with the Accord. With the Next Gen car, this what-if may become outdated.

What Doesn't Change

• Justin Wilson is still killed at Pocono in an IndyCar race, and Tony Stewart still lends his private jet to them.

2016

• What if Bryan Clauson was still alive? - After doing five races in 2009, Clauson ran for Rookie of the Year in 2010 in the #41 Juicy Fruit Dodge. He still does sprint car races from time to time, though due to having more experience in Cup, Clauson successfully prevented his death.
• What if the Charter System never existed? - Brian France was considering this, but again, Dale Earnhardt convinced him it was a bad idea due to its potential of being exploited by poorly-performing teams at the expense of more competitive ones, and alienating existing or potential team owners. The field remains an even 42 (due to NR2003 being incapable of using 43 computer opponents without a very specific exploit), as a result, rather than 40 or less, and teams never shut down in droves, notably HScott Motorsports, which still has Michael Annett and Justin Allgaier as drivers (after the death of Harry Scott, Jr. in 2017, the team was sold to Terry and Bobby Labonte, who renamed it Labonte Motorsports). Rick Ware Racing also only has one car: the #27 for Cody Ware.

What Doesn't Change

• Donald Trump is still elected president.

2017

• What if Carl Edwards never retired? - Edwards still drives the #54 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Daniel Suárez instead drove the #87 Arris Toyota for Furniture Row Racing from 2017 to 2018, and Christopher Bell drove the car in 2020. Matt DiBenedetto still drives the #95 Procore Pontiac for Leavine Family Racing, and Suárez replaced him in the #07 7-Eleven Dodge for Petty Enterprises.
• What if NASCAR never introduced stage racing? - Because the Chase was scrapped, there was no need for stage racing to create artificial drama. Dale Earnhardt stated in an interview before the 2017 Daytona 500 that he considered potential gimmicks NASCAR could have taken, such as stage racing, that would have caused its downfall.
• What if Tommy Baldwin Racing improved, not worsened? - Baldwin switched to Dodge for 2017 with support from Pacific Coast Racing. It expanded to two cars in 2019 with James Buescher, and switched to Nissan in 2021.

What Doesn't Change

• Monster Energy still takes over as title sponsor for the Cup Series, and the name still becomes the clunky-sounding Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

2018

• What if Furniture Row Racing never shut down? - Self explanatory.

What Doesn't Change

• Brian France still gets arrested for a DUI on the day the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ran at Watkins Glen, and still resigns and is replaced by his uncle Jim.

2019

• What if NASCAR never made year-to-year changes to the rules package? - Instead of constantly tweaking the cars every year and wildly changing the racing product, NASCAR hasn't touched the package since the SAFER Car was introduced in 1997 (due to the manufacturers having more input in the cars), and has given teams more leeway on what's acceptable. Because the racing product never degraded, sponsors never left NASCAR in droves, and the growth NASCAR experienced in the 90s and 2000s has been sustained. For example, Home Depot, 5-Hour Energy, and Lowe's never left the sport, still sponsoring the #14 of Tony Stewart, the #40 of Clint Bowyer, and the #50 of Jimmie Johnson, respectively.
• What if Macy Waltrip was a NASCAR driver? - Macy moved up to the Cup Series in 2019, replacing Clint Bowyer in the #01 MBNA Honda, as Bowyer moved to Furniture Row Racing to drive the #78 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing, with Kurt Busch moving to Chip Ganassi Racing, like in real life.

2020

• What if Matt Tifft wasn't sidelined by health issues? - Self-explanatory.
• What if the COVID-19 pandemic never happened? - This assumes that the coronavirus either never left China, is so minor that it is literally just another form of the common cold, or straight-up doesn't exist, period. Not only did the season not stop, but the implementation of the Next Gen car (which in this timeline is known as the New Body Program II, as it's merely a new body on the existing SAFER Car chassis dating back to 1997) wasn't pushed back to 2022. Finally, Kyle Larson never got fired from Chip Ganassi Racing by using a racial slur on an iRacing live stream. This also means that Leavine Family Racing never shut down, and Go FAS Racing never became a part-time team.

What Doesn't Change

• John Andretti still died of cancer.
• Auto Club Speedway was still announced as a short track for 2022.
• Joe Biden was still elected president.
• Kobe Bryant still died in a helicopter crash.
• Ryan Newman's last-lap crash at the Daytona 500 still happened.
• The Cup Series still adopted the tiered sponsorship system.
• Clint Bowyer still retired and joined Fox after the season. He was replaced by Chase Briscoe in the #78.

2021

• What if the Dash Series came back? - In 2021, NASCAR announced the return of the old Dash Series, officially known as the Blue-Emu Dash Series. The series officially runs four models: the Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Focus, Dodge Neon (really a Mexican-rebranded Fiat Tipo), and Toyota 86, with one team running a Pontiac Sunfire and another running a Mazda Miata, marking Mazda's official debut in American NASCAR competition. The initial series will use this carset created by Thunder98 on Stunod Racing, which uses the Pinty's Series mod.

What Doesn't Change

• The capitol insurrection still happened.
• Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin still formed 23XI Racing.
• Kyle Larson still went to Hendrick Motorsports, though he drives the #50.
• The Cup Series still raced at Dirt Bristol, but in this timeline, NASCAR made more of an effort to wet the track and keep dust down.
• Atlanta still began its repave, but it's being reconfigured back to the pre-1997 layout.
• The SRX was still founded.

Current Cup Series Teams as of 2021

2021 Manufacturers and Models

Make	Model	Year Introduced	Previous model	Factory Team(s)
Chevrolet	Camaro SS	2020	Returning	Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt-Childress Racing
	Camaro ZL1 1LE
Dodge	Challenger	2019	Returning	Chip Ganassi Racing, Evernham Motorsports, Pacific Coast Racing, Petty Enterprises, Team Penske
	Charger	2005	Returning (hiatus in 2019-2020)
Ford	Mustang	2019	Returning	Roush Racing, Yates Racing, Wood Brothers Racing
Honda	Accord	2015	Returning	Michael Waltrip Racing
Nissan	GT-R	2021	New	Team Red Bull
Pontiac	Trans-Am	2019	Returning; G6 ineligible	Stewart-Haas Racing
Toyota	Camry	2007	Returning	Furniture Row Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing
	Supra	2021	New

Note: Factory teams are teams that get direct support from their OEM. Equipment is then disseminated to non-factory teams.

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Name	Sponsor(s)	Model
Chevrolet	Cale Yarborough Racing	98	Shane Hmiel	Westinghouse	Camaro SS
	Earnhardt-Childress Racing	1	Martin Truex, Jr.	Bass Pro Shops	Camaro ZL1 1LE
		3	Austin Dillon	GM Goodwrench Dow Cheerios American Ethanol Bass Pro Shops Jack Daniel's
		8	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Budweiser Nationwide Wrangler Jeans Monster Energy Coca-Cola
		30	Tyler Reddick	Stanley T-Mobile JCB Tractors Cessna Hulu
		31	Ty Dillon	Caterpillar Castrol Yuengling Bass Pro Shops
		48	Kyle Larson	Lowe's Kobalt Tools
	Hendrick Motorsports	5	William Byron	Farmer's Insurance Liberty University	Camaro ZL1 1LE
		25	Ricky Hendrick	Axalta National Guard Ally Financial
		35	Landon Cassill	Folgers Pepsi
		50	Brad Keselowski	John Deere Mountain Dew AMP
	Medallion Racing	09	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Medallion Financial	Camaro SS
	Phil Parsons Racing	198	Josh Wise	Reddit	Camaro SS
	PPI Motorsports	32	Boston Reid	Nickeodeon	Camaro ZL1 1LE
	Premium Motorsports	49	Brennan Poole	fluctuates between races	Camaro ZL1 1LE
	Rick Ware Racing	27	Cody Ware	fluctuates between races	Camaro ZL1 1LE
	Spire Motorsports	74	Corey LaJoie	fluctuates between races	Camaro SS
		79	Reed Sorenson	fluctuates between races
			Garrett Smithley
			B. J. McLeod
			Josh Bilicki
			Stanton Barrett
	Trackhouse Racing	100	Daniel Suárez	CommScope	Camaro SS
Dodge	AK Racing	7	James Kulwicki	Walmart	Charger
	Andretti Autosport	198	James Davison	DHL	Challenger
	Bill Davis Racing	9	Chase Elliott	Aaron's Hooters Amoco	Challenger
		24	Scott Wimmer	Caterpillar
		93	Jason Leffler	Baby Ruth AARP Drive to End Hunger
	Chip Ganassi Racing	01	Dylan Kwasniewski	DC Solar	Challenger
		40	Kurt Busch	Coor's Light Monster Energy
		41	Bryan Clauson	Target
		42	Ross Chastain	Mopar Credit One Bank McDonald's
		92	Jimmie Johnson (restrictor-plate, Crown Jewel and road course events only)	Carvana
	Evernham Motorsports	19	Casey Elliott	Dodge Dealers	Charger
		91	Casey Atwood	Stanley Tools
		109	Kasey Kahne	Dodge Dealers
	Hillman Racing	140	Sean Caisse	Curb Records	Challenger
	Kelman Racing	86	Sophie Kelman (R)	AT&T	Challenger
	Labonte Motorsports	46	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J	Charger
		51	Justin Allgaier	Brandt
		53	Bobby Labonte (restrictor-plate events only)	Kellogg's
	McDuffie Racing	170	Crissy Hillsworth	Wendy's	Charger
	Moroso-Rudd Racing	82	Dakoda Armstrong	Skoal Bandit	Challenger
		83	Noah Howe	Tide
		84	Spencer Boyd (R)	Miller High Life
	Pacific Coast Racing	60	Katie Johnson	Makita Coca-Cola Hasbro (The Transformers)	Challenger
		69	Kelly Walker	Dickies Coca-Cola Hasbro (G.I. Joe)
		70	Ace Johnson (restrictor-plate and road course events only)	Pibb Xtra Coca-Cola Hasbro (Nerf)
		80	Andy Johnson	Nintendo Coca-Cola Hasbro (My Little Pony)
		85	Suki Honda	Sprite Coca-Cola Hasbro (Potato Head)
	Petty Enterprises	04	Aric Almirola	Smithfield	Challenger
		07	Matt DiBenedetto	7-Eleven Arris
		43	Erik Jones	Click n' Close World Wide Technologies U.S. Air Force STP
		44	Chad McCumbee	Twisted Tea Wells Fargo Marathon Petroleum Hot Wheels
		45	Adam Petty	STP Coca-Cola
		46	Austin Petty	Mello Yello
	Team Penske	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Miller Lite	Charger
		12	Ryan Blaney	Verizon Menard's PPG
		22	Joey Logano	Shell-Pennzoil AAA Financial
		39	Ryan Newman	Menard's Discount Tire Wurth Alliance Auto Parts SKF
Ford	Front Row Motorsports	26	Matt Tifft	fluctuates between races	Mustang
		34	Michael McDowell	Love's Travel Stops
		38	Hunter Nemechek	fluctuates between races
	Go FAS Racing	65	Ryan Ellis	fluctuates between races
	Live Fast Motorsports	05	B. J. McLeod	fluctuates between races
	Roush Racing	06	Greg Biffle	Grainger
		6	Ty Majeski	Valvoline Oscar Mayer Progressive iRacing Koch
		66	Chris Buescher	Fastenal Fifth Third Bank
		97	Casey Atwood	Crown Royal
		99	Jeb Burton	Citgo
	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Trevor Bayne	Motorcraft
	Yates Racing	28	Davey Allison, Jr.	Texaco Havoline
		88	Alex Bowman	UPS
		96	Ryan Reed	Circuit City
Honda	Beard Motorsports	62	Noah Gragson (superspeedway events only)	Beard Oil South Point	Civic
	Brett Favre Racing	15	Parker Kligerman	Nike Sony
		61	Bo Abraham	Kodak
		90	Johanna Robbins	Fujifilm
	Germain Racing	13	Casey Mears	Geico
	JTG Daugherty Racing	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Cottonelle
		59	Ryan Preece	Kroger
	Michael Waltrip Racing	17	Macy Waltrip	MBNA AAA Insurance
		55	Brian Vickers	Square D
		56	Brett Moffitt	NAPA
Nissan	Robby Gordon Motorsports	107	Robby Gordon (road-course events only)	Speed Energy	GTR
	Team Red Bull	83	Justin Haley (R)	Red Bull
		84	A. J. Allmendinger	Red Bull
	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36	J. J. Yeley	Accell Construction Golden Corral
		71	James Buescher	Nikko
Pontiac	Kennedy Racing	03	Louise Kennedy	Aflac ShowBiz Pizza Place	Trans-Am
		09	Katrina Goode	Arby's Chuck E. Cheese
	Leavine Family Racing	95	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Procore
	StarCom Racing	05	Quin Houff	fluctuates between races
	Stewart-Haas Racing	00	Cole Custer	Haas Automation
		4	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John's Mobil 1
		10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Mobil 1
		14	Tony Stewart	Home Depot Office Depot Old Spice Bass Pro Shops Rush Truck Centers Haas Automation Mobil 1
Toyota	23XI Racing	23	Bubba Wallace	DoorDash McDonald's Dr Pepper	Supra
	Furniture Row Racing	77	Christopher Bell	Rheem	Camry
		78	Chase Briscoe (R)	5-Hour Energy Peak Antifreeze Furniture Row
		87	Kaz Grala (R)	Auto-Owners Insurance
	Gaunt Brothers Racing	196	Stephen Leicht	Wendy's	Supra
	Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx	Camry
		18	Kyle Busch	M&Ms Interstate Batteries Pedigree Skittles Twix
		20	Elliott Sadler	Dollar General Reser's Sports Clips
		54	Carl Edwards	Subway
	Orr Motorsports	37	Regan Smith	Burger King	Camry

2021 Schedule

No.	Race name	Venue	Track Type	Date	TV
1	Dodge/SaveMart 350	Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma	Road course	January 31	Fox
	Busch Clash	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach	Superspeedway (restricted)	February 9	CBS
	Gatorade Twin 125's			February 11
2	Daytona 500			February 14
3	O'Reilly 200	Wall Stadium, Belmar	Short Track	February 17	ESPN
3	Subway 400	Rockingham Speedway, Rockingham	Intermediate	February 20	Fox
4	Kobalt Tools 200	Caraway Speedway, Ashboro	Short Track	February 24	ESPN
5	Pennzoil 400	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas	Intermediate	February 28	Fox
6	Old Spice 200	Kern County Raceway Park, Bakersfield	Short Track	March 3	ESPN
7	Auto Club 400	Auto Club Speedway, Fontana	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	March 7	Fox
8	Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton	Intermediate	March 14	Fox
9	Home Depot 300	Road Atlanta, Braselton	Road Course	March 17	ESPN
10	TranSouth Financial 500	Darlington Raceway, Darlington	Egg-Shaped Intermediate	March 21	Fox
11	Food City 500	Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol	Short Track	March 28	Fox
12	Carolina Dodge Dealers 200	Bowman Grey Stadium, Winston-Salem	Short Track	April 7	ESPN
13	First Union 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro	Short Track	April 11	Fox
14	Flex Seal 500	Irwindale Event Center, Irwindale	Short Track	April 14	ESPN
15	Silicon Valley 500	San Jose Motorplex, Gilroy	Superspeedway (restricted)	April 18	Fox
16	FanShield 500	Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale	Intermediate	April 25	Fox
17	Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgway	Paperclip Short Track	May 2	Fox
18	Hasbro 200	Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville	Short Track	May 5	ESPN
19	GEICO 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln	Superspeedway (restricted)	May 9	Fox
20	Peterbilt 400	Dover International Speedway, Dover	Intermediate	May 16	Fox
21	Fritos 150	Bridgehampton Race Circuit, Sag Harbor	Road Course	May 19	ESPN
	NASCAR All-Star Open	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord	Intermediate	May 23	Fox
	NASCAR All-Star Race
22	Coca-Cola 600			May 31	CBS
23	Diet Coke 500	Coca-Cola Superspeedway, Denver	Superspeedway (restricted)	June 6	Fox
24	Denver Post 400	Pikes Peak International Speedway, Fountain	Intermediate	June 9	ESPN
25	Pocono 400	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	June 13	CBS
26	Lehigh Valley 400	Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth	Intermediate	June 20	CBS
27	FireKeepers Casino 400	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	June 27	CBS
28	US Cellular 400	Iowa Speedway, Newton	Short Track	June 30	ESPN
29	Pepsi 400	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	July 3	CBS
30	Ford EcoBoost 400	Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead	Intermediate	July 7	ESPN
31	Harley-Davidson 250	Road America, Lake Elkhart	Road Course	July 11	CBS
32	Pabst Blue Ribbon 400	Milwaukee Mile, West Allis	Intermediate	July 14	ESPN
33	Foxwood Casino Resort 301	New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon	Intermediate	July 18	NBC
34	Lucas Oil 400	Lucas Oil Raceway, Brownsburg	Short Track	July 21	ESPN
35	Brickyard 400	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	July 25	NBC
36	Bud 500	Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol	Short Track	July 31	NBC
37	Sam's Town 500	Memphis International Raceway, Memphis	Short Track	August 4	ESPN
38	Music City USA 420	Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville	Short Track	August 7	NBC
39	Ally 400	Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon	Intermediate	August 11	ESPN
40	Tesla 500	San Jose Motorplex, Gilroy	Superspeedway (restricted)	August 15	NBC
41	HP Hood Oxford 500	Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford	Short Track	August 18	ESPN
42	Go Bowling at the Glen	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen	Road Course	August 22	NBC
43	Bulls-Eye BBQ 200	South Boston Speedway, South Boston	Short Track	August 25	ESPN
44	Pennsylvania 400	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	August 29	NBC
45	Greenville 200	Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Greenville	Short Track	September 1	ESPN
46	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway, Darlington	Egg-Shaped Intermediate	September 5	NBC
47	Mopar 400	Chicago Motor Speedway, Cicero	Paperclip Intermediate	September 8	ESPN
48	Pontiac Excitement 400	Richmond International Raceway, Richmond	Short Track	September 11	NBC
49	EchoPark Texas Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin	Road Course	September 14	ESPN
50	Dodge Dealers 400	Dover International Speedway, Dover	Intermediate	September 19	NBC
51	Goody's 500	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgway	Paperclip Short Track	September 26	NBC
52	GM Goodwrench 200	Evergreen Speedway, Monroe	Short Track	September 29	ESPN
53	DieHard 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln	Superspeedway (restricted)	October 3	NBC
54	Hollywood Casino 400	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City	Intermediate	October 10	NBC
55	Bank of America 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord	Intermediate	October 16	NBC
56	AC Delco 400	Rockingham Speedway, Rockingham	Intermediate	October 24	NBC
57	Budweiser 400	Riverside International Raceway, Riverside	Road Course	October 31	NBC
58	Sprite 500	Coca-Cola Superspeedway, Denver	Superspeedway (restricted)	November 7	NBC
59	Atlanta Journal 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton	Intermediate	November 14	NBC
60	Mojang 200	Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, Rosamond	Road Course	November 17	ESPN
61	Los Angeles Times 500	Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario	Superspeedway (unrestricted)	November 21	NBC

Videos

Coming soon!

See Also

• List of music (Start Your Engines!)
• List of NASCAR Manufacturers (Start Your Engines!)
• List of eligible models that never ran (Start Your Engines!)