Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300: The best or worst NASCAR race name?
Yes, that's really the name of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2021 and has been updated.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Both. The answer to that question has to be both, right?
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener is officially named the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300. Negative environmental impacts of beef aside, the race name is hilarious, goofy and overly punctuated, but, of course, that’s presumably what the race sponsor wanted it to be named.
But try saying that out loud with a straight face. “The Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300.” It’s comical.
However, it’s challenging to gauge exactly where it would fall on a list of similarly absurd NASCAR race names.
It’s not quite as painfully awkward as some race names, like the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen or the My Bariatric Solutions 300. Anything with with a URL in it — such as the 1000Bulbs.com 500 or the Visitmyrtlebeach.com 300 — is a hard pass.
Names with “presented by” tacked on at the end are just annoying, like the American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen. Even if it’s for a good cause — like the Active Pest Control 200 benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta — it’s a mouthful, and it seems like people will automatically opt not to say anything after the numeral noting the race length.
To be fair, the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 only has two periods in it, when other race names are more punctuated, like the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200.
And of course, perhaps nothing will top the 2018 Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was called the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line. Come on. People still called it the Brickyard 400 anyway.
As for the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300, we’ll put this one in the so-bad-it’s-actually-good category.
And, Daytona weather permitting, the Xfinity season opener is set for Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.