<P> Montoya initially surprised the auto racing community by leaving F1, but he was quickly followed by other drivers . Open wheel stars like Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, A.J. Allmendinger and Danica Patrick all made the move to the Monster Energy Cup series, with varying degrees of success . Two - time Australian Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose competed in the Monster Energy Cup Series from 2007 to 2014, winning two races . </P> <P> Other drivers compete often in stock car racing but are well known for their success elsewhere . Ron Fellows and Boris Said are champion road racers and are often brought in by teams solely to compete in NASCAR's road course events, a title known as road course ringers . Robby Gordon was one of NASCAR's few remaining owner - drivers, but he is most famous for his numerous off - road championships and his three Baja 1000 wins . </P> <P> Stock car races take place predominantly on oval tracks of 3 or 4 turns, with all turns to the left . Oval tracks are classified as short track (less than 1 mile), intermediate or speedway (1 to 2 miles) or superspeedway (over 2 miles). Road courses are any tracks having both left and right turns . Depending on the track, typical race speeds can vary from 90 miles per hour (140 km / h) at Martinsville to over 200 miles per hour (320 km / h) at Talladega . In 1987 Bill Elliott's 212.809 mph (342.483 km / h) qualifying time at Talladega brought about a change at superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega). Such high speeds and Bobby Allison's car going airborne into the catch - fence and injuring fans forced NASCAR to implement power - reducing measures, one of which was the mandated implement of below carburetor restrictor plates . This later became known as restrictor plate racing . </P> <P> Oval circuits differ from the rough terrain and sharp turns of Rally, and the complicated twists and turns of Formula One tracks that put up to 5 or 6 g of horizontal stress on the driver's body . Stock cars are much heavier than Formula One cars, and as a result they are generally slower . Additionally, they cannot produce the g - forces of an open wheel car . A stock car's weak handling with high power output places more emphasis on car control . </P>

What is the average speed of a nascar race car