Victory lap

[citation needed] Victory laps have regularly seen drivers who have retired in the final stages of a race being given a lift back to the pits on one of their competitors' cars.

The sporting regulations state that at the end of a race, "all cars must proceed on the circuit directly to the post race parc fermé without stopping, without overtaking (unless clearly necessary), without receiving any object whatsoever and without any assistance (except that of the marshals if necessary)", although this rule has rarely been enforced, such as Felipe Massa taking a Brazilian flag following his victory at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, and more recently Lewis Hamilton taking a British flag following his controversial victory at the 2021 British Grand Prix.

The term was first coined as a result of Polish American Alan Kulwicki's celebration of his first career Winston Cup victory at the Checker 500 (Phoenix) on November 6, 1988.

Kulwicki first became familiar with the practice after meetings with Midwest dirt track racer Fred Zack, who had been performing the backwards lap for many years prior.

Many local racetrack winners and series champions have saluted Kulwicki or his underdog spirit with a Polish victory lap, especially in his home state of Wisconsin.

[7] Dale Earnhardt Jr. did a Polish victory lap after winning the 2001 MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway in the first NASCAR Winston Cup Race following the September 11 attacks while holding a large American flag out the driver's side window.

In 2012, Tony Stewart did a Polish victory lap after finally winning for the first time at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Kobalt Tools 400.

In 2015, Denny Hamlin celebrated his Xfinity Series win in his home state track at Richmond International Raceway with a Polish victory lap, and completing it while performing a burnout.