The 1952 NASCAR Grand National Series was the fourth season of the premier stock car racing championship sanctioned by NASCAR. Once the season was concluded, driver Tim Flock was crowned the Grand National champion after winning 8 of the 33 events that he competed in. This was the first year that NASCAR scheduled its events to avoid the conflicts of having two races, at two different tracks, on the same day. The only exception was on June 1, when races were held at both Toledo Speedway in Ohio, and Hayloft Speedway in Augusta, Georgia. Herb Thomas finished second to Flock after competing in 32 races, and Lee Petty finished third in the standings that year.[1] Throughout the 1952 season, a total of 261 drivers entered at least one of the 34 events.[2] Virtually every American car manufacturer had at least one of their cars start that season.[3]
This was also the first season that sponsors such as Pure Oil Co (which later became Union 76, and eventually Unocal), and Champion Spark Plug Inc. started paying contingency award monies in exchange for the publicity they received by drivers sponsoring their products.[1][4]
- ^ a b Fleischman, Bill; Pearce, Al (2004). "At a Glance: Year-By-Year Summaries". In Visible Ink Press (ed.). The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide 2004 (10 ed.). Canyon, Michigan: Checkered Flag Press. pp. 139–141. ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
- ^ "Grand National standings for 1952". racing-reference.info. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. "1952 NASCAR Grand National Recap". HowStuffWorks. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ "Driver: Marshall Teague". LegendsofNascar.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2009-05-05.