There are all sorts of Daytona 500 activities already underway down in Florida, but the main race kicks off tomorrow at 1pm/EST. If you’re into the Daytona 500, you’re probably already a pretty big NASCAR fan but some of us are newcomers and may like the idea of fast cars, but don’t really know how to “fit in” with the NASCAR crowd. We pulled together some of the basics of NASCAR drinking culture so if you’re in Daytona right now, or just watching from home, you’ll feel a little bit more legit.
The official alcoholic beverage of NASCAR is beer. Period. We usually allow some wiggle room for things like this, but if you’re drinking anything other than beer while watching the Daytona 500 you aren’t a true fan. The best part about the Daytona 500 is that it’s BYOB. NASCAR knows their fans are not going to throw down hundreds of dollars to buy some sudsy crap at the race, so they let them bring in their own cans. Maybe other major sports should consider doing the same (yeah, we know it’s never going to happen).
If you’re watching from home you can take part in a friendly Daytona 500 drinking game. If you Google Daytona 500 drinking games, the list of choices is absolutely glorious. Some of the rules are geared more to the specific year in which they were written, but many are still totally good. For example:
One drink:
A driver/crew member refers to their car as: “The [car sponsor] Chevy/Toyota/Ford” (Example: “The M&Ms Toyota).
Two drinks:
There is a “wreck” and/or the caution flag is out.
Three drinks:
A car going airborne during a wreck.
Chug:
An ambulance is needed at the track after a wreck.
See the full list from Nascar Neophyte here.
Even if you could not care less about NASCAR or the Daytona 500, we know you care about beer. So crack open a cold one and enjoy the race.