Explanation of the Different Flag Colors Used in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Anybody who is a fan of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has seen flags of various colors flying during the race. Each flag color represents a different meaning and different actions need to be taken per the flag being waved. While the majority of NASCAR fans know what the green, yellow and checkered flags mean, there are actually five more colors that will fly for a total of eight different flag colors. If you don't know what all eight are or what they mean, don't feel bad, after this explanation, you will.

Let's start with the basics. On a traffic light, there is green, yellow and red. Green of course signifies go, yellow means to slow and use caution and red means to stop. So as far as those colors go, it's pretty much the same in NASCAR for flags. A green flag means the start or continuation of a race (go). A yellow flag (or caution flag) means that the drivers have to slow their cars and follow the pace car. While under yellow flag conditions, a driver may not advance his or her position on the track. If a red flag flies the race is temporarily stopped. A red flag will generally fly when there has been a bad accident on the track leaving a lot of debris that needs to be cleared before the race can resume. Once the race does resume it does so under the yellow flag and then goes to the green flag after that (source: about.com). But those are the easy ones.

The other five flags that can be seen flying on race day include the white flag, the black flag, the black flag with a white x on it, the blue flag with a yellow diagonal stripe through it and the checkered flag. Just like the three flags previously mentioned NASCAR flags, each flag has its own meaning.

The white flag will signify that there is one lap to go. When the leader of the race crosses the start/finish line, you will see the white flag wave as it will wave for all the cars on the lead-lap once they too cross the start finish with one lap to go. So if a driver is one or more laps down when the leader finishes the race, he or she will not see the white flag waved for them (source: about.com). Now for the flags you don't want to see.

If a black flag is waived at a driver, that means he or she has committed an infraction and must report to the pits to fix said infraction. The infraction can range from loose parts on the car or not maintaining the track speed minimum or even going too fast entering or exiting pit road. If the driver fails to pit within five laps, the black flag with a white x through it will waive signifying that NASCAR is no longer scoring the car (counting the laps run).

The blue flag with a yellow diagonal stripe through it is also called the "move over flag." This flag is waved at a driver that is usually several laps down and is getting in the way of a lead lap car or cars. This is the only flag in NASCAR that is an optional flag (source: nascar.com). A driver can decide to ignore the flag and not move over, although he or she will not win any favors with the other drivers if they do not do so.

Finally the Holy Grail of all the flags, the flag that every driver wants to see first, the checkered flag. The checkered flag signifies that the end of the race. Put simply, the first driver to see it wave as he or she crosses the start finish line, wins the race.

So concludes all the flags colors and their meanings that you see flying week in and week out in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And with the explanation provided above, you can see that there is more to NASCAR flag colors than just green, yellow and checkered.