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In the history of NASCAR, restrictor plate racing has by far been the most competitive, with the highest number of lead changes and leaders and thus the highest quality of competition in the sanctioning body's history.

The restrictor plate dates to 1970 as speeds in the sport had escalated beyond the ability nof tire companies to handle. It was the suggestion of David Pearson, Bobby Isaac, and Bobby Allison that led to the first reestrictor plate in August 1970, used for all NASCAR tracks. Speeds dropped and engine failures became less frequent, and by 1971 the intensity of the racing had picked up to where that February's Daytona 500 set a motorsports record at 48 lead changes. NASCAR ran restrictor plates until September 1971 when they switched to carburator sleeves, but by July 1973 they had returned to restrictor plates, and the 1974 Daytona 500 set a race record at 60 lead changes among 15 drivers.

NASCAR switched to smaller displacement engines in the spring of 1974, a costly and prolonged switchover that drained monetary resources from numerous teams, but restrictor plates remained a standby option, to where when new pavement sent Daytona speeds escalating by over eight MPH from 1978 to 1979, NASCAR seriously considered using the plates that year, but decided against it.

The plates, however, came back to stay after seven seasons of horrendous airborn crashes at the sport's fastest tracks culimated when Bobby Allison ripped out 100 feet of fencing at Talladega. NASCAR tried smaller carburators but they did not keep speeds down, so restrictor plates returned for good at Daytona and Talladega in 1988.

Throughout their use the plates have seen more competitive racing than is seen at other tracks. Lead changes have almost always been more frequent in restrictor plate racing and more cars are battling for the win than in other forms of racing. The plates have led to a phenomenon known as sidedrafting - pre-plates a car running second could blow past the leader and the leader could not fight back, but in the plate era the attacking car can get a run and swing alongside, but the leader can fight back by sucking the air off the attacking car's side and thus slowing him down; this side draft has thus given the leader ability to play defense and stop a pass by beating the attacker back to the stripe, and has also led to side by side racing far more sustained than was the case before.

Alternatives to restrictor plates have long been proposed

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