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Stock Car Racing: 2020 Season
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Stock Car Racing: 2020 Season
NASCAR ran its first season without a title sponsor in the name of the series since the Winston Cup started in 1972. The K&N Series East and K&N Series West became the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West.
COVID-19 put NASCAR on an unprecedented hold, resulting in a gap with no on-track Cup races between March 8 and May 17. Adapting to the pandemic, drivers shifted to entertaining a locked down audience with iRacing events. When the real cars returned to the track, it was without fans ni the stands and without Kyle Larson, who lost his spot in the 42 car when caught uttering a racial slur on a recorded game stream.
Civil rights protests, intensified to levels not seen in decades after the death of George Floyd, spilled over into the NASCAR world. Bubba Wallace ran a Black Lives Matter themed car and weeks later a noose was found in his garage stall (it had been left there from a previous event and by chance the #43 team was assigned to that stall).
In addition to a touching display of solidarity with Bubba Wallace at Talladega, NASCAR also took up the cause of LGBTQ rights with a pride flag themed "I Am NASCAR" merchandise and participation in the You Can Play Pride Auction. The combination kicked off a new phase in the culture war within the NASCAR fandom between increasingly progressive younger fans and the traditionally deeply conservative fan base. This carried on through the end of the season, run in an election year with a pro-Trump PAC sponsoring Corey LaJoie's Cup car.
2020 ended on a sad note for Jimmie Johnson fans as he completed a frustrating year without a win and retired from full-time NASCAR competition to pursue a part-time IndyCar schedule. Chase Elliott won his first Cup Series championship, Bill & Chase becoming the third father-son Champion duos (joining the Pettys and Jarretts).
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