Cup, and the superspeedway races, are a lot more interesting when you understand everything that's going on.
Some competitive experience on an oval or a road course, or even crewing, helps that a lot.
Inches away from each other at 180 or so while being buffeted, and planning moves to take well downtrack, is intense.
It's almost as nuts as the same thing in open-wheel cars.
Not to mention heat, pulse rate, the sheer volume of sensation and tactile info, and usually changing every second or so.
Ovals are inherently dangerous because the cars can pack up, whereas on road courses, the corners tend to create separation.

I'm not a big fan of the NASCAR organization or the WWF-style stuff, and I dread wrecks; but racing itself, in almost any discipline...I'll refer to the famous Steve McQueen quote...