Overview:
Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10
Offline: 34 [900]
Online: 6 [100]
Approximate time: 45-50 Hours
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 career playthrough
Missable achievements: No [Replay levels]
Does difficulty affect Achievements: No
Unobtainable/glitched Achievements: Yes, see below.
Extra equipment needed?: No
Is there DLC? No


Introduction:
Hardcore NASCAR fans will not find this game a huge step in the futuristic direction. The game is great as far as driving and setups, and has a large create-a-car section. The online is very very glitchy (this is before the May 9th patch) and almost unplayable. The entire game is filled with bugs that a careless developer team left unfixed. If you are in it for JUST achievements, then it may be best to avoid this game.


Preparation:
Before we begin, please note that this is the first NASCAR game not produced by EA. The entire game is full of glitches. The online has been reported to be very glitchy when joining games. Your save file may also disappear if your game happens to freezes or glitches during racing. To prevent this, back up your save file on a USB, memory card or in the Cloud. Do this often.

Gamers have reported that the achievements for reaching Ranks 2, 10, 20 and 30 have not been unlocking. Make a back-up save before each of these levels to prevent this glitch from occurring.

The achievements Surfin USA and Boy Scout have also been known to glitch. Create another back-up save BEFORE mastering the final track. You cannot go back after completing the race. Please refer to this guide. Remember to create back-up saves often completing some of these challenges.

The game is also known to not unlock more than one achievement at a time. Say you were to unlock an achievement for finishing a race, as well as an achievement for ranking up. The game will give you the Rank achievement, but not unlock the achievement for 200 wins. Try to avoid this situation if at all possible. Please remember to back up your saves!


Abbreviated Walkthrough: (14 for 380)
The great thing about this is if you don’t win a pole or win a race, simply restart, or even select it again to race later. You will notice you will be invited to participate in invitational events as well as sponsorships. Pay attention to these as they will unlock different achievements as well as handy NXP. If you win your first race, and lead the most laps (on 2% length and easy AI this is not difficult) you will earn Sprint to the Finish. Immediately after winning and celebrating a burnout, your driver will be on top of his car. Press start, go to camera options and take a picture of him for Celebration Shot. After these you will earn VIP for completing a sponsorship’s three goals. You can view them at the career menu. Make sure you redo any tracks that you did not win or qualify 1st in before entering the chase, or else you'll miss a couple of the achievements. Keep at it and if you have 1sts in qualifying, invitational events, races, sponsorships, and everything in between, you'll unlock all career achievements.

Now go into single player, win a race on Kentucky, and you will finish off Victory lane. Remember that you can restart any races you did get a top ten on, and any you didn’t win can be done in single player.


Miscellaneous: (11 for 140)
At the main menu, go to ‘Car’ and then to ‘Design Car.’ Slap something on your custom car and save it for Car Stylist. If you go race that designed car in Quickplay or Campaign and win the race, you will earn Styin’ and Profiling. Back to the ‘Car’ selection screen, chose ‘Car Tuning.’ Change one or two things, save, and you’ll earn Hotrod. Next I would suggest racing a 43 car eliminator event for Last man Standing. After you get a feel for the game and how NXP works, you can go for NXP Challenge. If you have trouble getting 6,666 NXP in a race, view the solution below. Two more achievements I would suggest getting out of the way areRookie Mistake and Give me 4. You can do these in the same race, just speed on pit road, then circle around and make a four tire stop. You do not have to win the race. By this time you will have probably earned One for the Road for ranking up to level 2 and Tailgating for drafting 500 yards. If not, you’ll pick them up in campaign. You’ll need to win in every brand of car, so use my solution to quickly knock it out and obtain Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday. One last one, Finishing in First can be a pain, but if you can’t finish a race in first gear (NOTE: you do NOT have to race in manual transmission), view my solution below.


Multiplayer: (6 for 100)
Thankfully, these achievements can be done in private matches. Chose a race with more than five laps for your first race (on 2%, any short track will do.) Make a four tire stop, lead every lap, and get the fastest time and you will knock out Let’s go Racin Boys, Pit Perfection, Up on the Wheel, and Pedal to the Metal. Unfortunately, those were the easy few. Now you must race on ALL 27 tracks in online races to obtain Rubbin is Racin!. While doing this with a partner, have the guy who joins each time win the race. By race 20, he should have obtained Race Rivalry. Apparently the trick is that the host cannot get the rival win, only the guy who joined.


Mop-Up:
If you have not gotten to level 20 and 30, grind it out for Decorated Driver and NASCAR Legend. Along the way, if you have completed all the invitational events, you should get Ride in style upon hitting level 29 (the second bar has the final scheme.) If you need to restart your career with a different driver to obtain one more Legend coin, do so for Name to Remember. Then cleanup the following if needed:

Keep Diggin’ – 500 total miles
Star of Tomorrow– 100 fastest laps (this will take a while, best to use split screen method below)
Boy Scout – you must obtain Surfin USA to get the last 23 pins
Kingly– 201 race wins. For fast solution, see below guide.
Groovy – master 1 track. See below for information
Surfin USA – master all 27 tracks. See below for information


Conclusion:
So, after wading through the glitch-fest that is Nascar 2011: The Game, hopefully you'll find yourself in this step with another 1000 under your belt. While the game may seem like a quick and easy 1000, hiding underneath the covers was a non-QA tested game. While still fun, achievement hunters and completionists may want to steer clear.
 



[x360a would like to thank 1000puppys for this road map]

NASCAR 2011: The Game Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 40 achievements with a total of 1000 points

  • You took part in your first online race.

    Jump in a lobby or create a private match with a friend and race to the end. You do not have to win.

  • Hotrod

     

    20

    You created a custom tuning setup.

    Go to ‘Car’ then to ‘Car Tuning.’ Change one thing, save setup, pop.

  • You lead 5 consecutive laps in an online race.

    Easiest done boosting with a friend. If you want to try this legit, your best bet is to host a game and shut custom setups off, some online players have very sick setups. I believe you do have to finish the race to unlock the achievement. Oh, and do not wreck someone on purpose to do this; follow the golden rule children! Use the forums for online partners.

  • You achieved the fastest lap of the race during an online race.

    Grab a partner from the forums and achieve the fastest lap of the race. I believe you have to finish the race for it to unlock.

  • You raced online at every track.

    This is a bit of a grind. Grab someone from the forums who is willing to duke this one out. There are 27 tracks in total (23 core tracks, 4 night tracks) and yes, the night races must be completed as well. The game does NOT keep track of them, so make sure YOU do! You have to finish the race for it to count.

  • You won a Gauntlet Invitational Event.

    A Gauntlet race is part of the Career mode under invitational events. There are three different ones, and you only need to win one. The goal of Gauntlet is to run a certain segment similar to the All Star Race (for you NASCAR fans) and at the end, the field is inverted. (1st becomes 43rd, 2nd becomes 42nd, etc.) If your opponents are on easy, you shouldn’t have a problem with this.

  • You survived a 43 car eliminator race to the end.

    This isn’t as hard as it sounds. You will need to do this in single player. Set the opponents to easy (and make sure there are 42 of them.) Next pick a track you are familiar with and survive. If you are having trouble, try Richmond or Dover. To make this grind shorter, set the timer to 10 seconds. Once the first lap is complete the elimination begins!

  • You won the Championship Showdown Invitational Event.

    This is another invitational event which is unlocked after the 26th race of the season in career mode. Also similar to the All Star Race, you must complete a 4 tire pit stop in the first segment and finish high for maximum points. There are 2 ten lap segments. If you are having trouble placing high in the first segment, try this: Make your pit stop on the very first lap. Believe it or not, I finished 1st doing this. The second segment is no trouble.

    WARNING: The first time I did this, I placed first both times, won the event, and did NOT get the achievement. When I replayed it, I placed 2nd and 1st, winning the event, and it unlocked. I believe this is because the first time I did it I leveled up after the event, and the second time I didn't level up and it did unlock.

  • You performed your first 4-tire pit stop in a race.

      

    This can be done in your first race. Enter pit road and chose "All" under tires when prompted.

  • You won a race crossing the line in first gear.

    (2)  

    This is more annoying than hard, but don’t fret. If you manage to get an online partner for the above achievements, simply slow the hell down when the last lap rolls around and creep across the finish line in first gear. If you have two controllers, you can go into split screen, set the opponents to zero and the laps to two, and get it in thirty seconds.

    Special note: You do not have to race in manual transmission for this achievement.

  • You won a race in all brands of car.

    You must win a race in all four makes: Dodge, Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. The fastest and most efficient way to do this is to go into single player and select the make you need to race under ‘car select.’ You can then race 4 quick races. For an even quicker achievement, play an eliminator race with one opponent on Bristol. In 26 seconds you will have a win, just repeat 3 more times. Remember whatever make your selected career mode driver drives probably already has a win, so this would save you a race.

    A side note to add that may help you: Paul06tc and Exodus Traps have discovered that winning the first three manufacturers and then qualifying 1st for the fourth make will also unlock the achievement !

  • You unlocked every NASCAR Pin in the game.

    (8)   

    Here are some of the things that pins are based on:

    -You start with a lot of them.
    -You get a pin usually every one or two levels, it stops giving you pins around level 20
    -You get 1 pin for each of the 22 core tracks that you master (this excludes Kentucky). for tracks that have day and night races, you only need to master day OR night for a pin. you will get a 23rd pin when you have mastered all 27 tracks including day and night.
    -Each non-Legend invitational event has at least two pins, one awarded for gold and one awarded for bronze. You can see the requirements by pressing at the event -> Credit to Dragon86.

    Players have claimed that this achievement is glitched and some players have ended up with 268/269 pins after doing everything. The best thing to do is to make a backup save before mastering your final track, and after doing so, Make sure you have gotten an extra pin for the final track.

    WARNING: If you Master all tracks and you do not get "Surfin USA," then Boy Scout will probably glitch on you. The best fix is BACK UP BACK UP AND BACK UP YOUR SAVE. Saluki 00 has been kind enough to go through on his second playthrough and make a detailed thread HERE so definitely check that out.

  • You unlocked every Gold Legends Coin in the game.

    The invitational events in career mode contain 8 legend challenges. Each challenge requires you to draft 5-6 opponents long enough to get their coin. Draft every opponent in each challenge to earn this. Special Note: You can finish drafting drivers and then retire if you do not wish to finish the amounted laps. You will still be awarded with the coins. If you are having trouble with Pocono or Daytona, come to a stop and let them go around. You can get the coins that way, and use multiple attempts if needed.

    WARNING: The Daytona Legends event is where I froze and lost my save, not sure if it matters but just a miniature heads up.

    SIDE NOTE: If you are using a NASCAR driver, after unlocking the last legend event (race 35) or finishing career, you MUST restart with a different driver and obtain your last drivers coin. Example: If you are using Dale Jr. in career, when you are done you must hit restart career and chose ANYONE BUT Jr. so you can go and get Dale Jr.'s coin.

    SIDE NOTE 2: Seeing as I just did the dropout method for the coin achievement, my "Any Place, Any Time" achievement did NOT unlock. When I replayed all 8 Legend races and finished the amounted laps, The achievement unlocked. if you are going for both achievements, YOU MUST FINISH THE LEGEND RACES TO THE END.

  • Kingly

     

    50

    You defeated Richard Petty's race win record of 200 wins.

    Another really stupid grind, which was also done in NASCAR 09 for those of you who also played that as well. Luckily this time, after you feel like you are absolutely done boosting and grinding other achievements, you can set a one opponent elimination event, 10 seconds, on Bristol. These count as wins, and you can repeat as many times as needed.

  • You performed a 4-tire pit stop, and went on to win an online race.

    This is probably not going to happen without a boosting buddy, so grab one from the forums! Once again you will need to hit pit road once during the race and select “all” for your tires. This is stackable with "Give Me 4" as I got them both at the same time racing online.

  • You won a race with a personalized Paint Scheme.

    Just create a custom car, race it anywhere in single player/career and win the race.

  • You've collected 88 Paint Schemes by completing all Invitational Events and reaching rank 29

    As stated in the description, you earn paint schemes for leveling up and completing invitational events. Most pant schemes are unlocked for earning silver on non Legend events. You will earn the last one on rank 29. You must make it to the 2nd mark of level 29 to earn the final scheme. Thanks ehughes908 for the confirmation of the final scheme. You do not need the three GoDaddy.com schemes for this achievement.

  • You mastered every track in the game.

    (10)   

    Ahhh, say hello to the hardest and most ruthless achievement in the game. I will try to make your life easier, but I can’t make any promises. First of all, to master a track, you must complete everything on a track card. Even after putting in all this damn time for the requirements, it has a possibility of glitching and not unlocking too; FUN! Anyways every card for all 27 tracks (Yes, unfortunately if you want this, all 27 must be done) has the following aspects:

    X of 5 pole starts
    X of 5 race wins
    X of 5 pit stops
    X of 5 fastest laps
    X of 5 laps led
    Lap under (insert ridiculous time here)

    The absolute fastest way to get the first 5/6 aspects is to split screen it up. Grab a second controller and sign into multiplayer à split-screen. Basically what you are going to do is set up a track race, two laps, NO OPPONENTS. Let player 2 free roam into the wall as you make your way around. On the first lap, pit. Make sure you do NOT get black flagged, as you will have only have one chance per race to pit. While you are making the sluggish path to your pit, grab controller two and drive him around the track. Have him stop shortly before the finish line. Then proceed to win the race with your player, and slide player 2 across the line. This will give you one of everything on that list since you automatically start from 1st. OldWIKI Tik stated that if you only need a handful of pit stops, you can setup a two lap and two car race (split screen or not) and turn cautions on. At the beginning, you can drive backwards to initiate a caution, and then proceed to "pit under caution" to rack these up.

    The sad thing is, the lap times are not so easy. here are some personal tips:
    - Most ovals can be done by following the preferred line around the track. This is true for the short tracks such as Bristol and Dover.
    - Try to tweak your setup in practice mode if you can't hit that lap. If you do land it while practicing, it will count!
    - Watkins Glen and Infineon may seem impossible, but follow the preferred line. I hit both times eventually, and I never even changed the setups.
    - Drafting. I have not gotten this to work in single player like others have stated, however the only way I could get Daytona’s ridiculous time was to have an online partner push me around the track.
    - OLDWIKI Tik said that you can put the AI on very hard and draft them around the track for harder tracks like Talladega, Indy, and Pocono.

    I have some checklists HERE for your convenience.

    MAJOR ADVANTAGEOUS GLITCH FOR SURFIN USA 4/15/11:
    -Update 5/21/12: You must delete your update cache in order to use this glitch.


    Just recently myself and bmcclure25 as well as OLDWIKI Tik have discovered a glitch to getting those very difficult lap times to register without even having to nail them! Here is what to do:

    Go to split screen and turn opponents off. Put the laps on 2, cautions ON, and pick the track you need the lap time for. as the race starts, pick up player 2 and hammer to drive in reverse and cause a caution. DO NOT PIT and SELECT LANE for player 1. repeat two more times and the race will end under caution. Surprise! the lap time now has a star for it if you did it correctly.

    This glitch absolutely DOES NOT work on the following tracks:
    1. Richmond (some say it has but I couldn't get it to work)
    2. Martinsville
    3. Bristol (Day or night)
    4. Dover
    5. Kansas (some say it does not work)
    6. Chicago (some say it does not work)

    Make sure to make a back up save before you do the last track just in case the achievement does NOT unlock. I can confirm that the achievement does unlock even with using this glitch (I unlocked it) but it is just glitchy overall. If you need some more help just post here and I can clarify the achievement as best as I can.

  • Groovy

     

    20

    You mastered a track by completing all the objectives on a Master the Track card.

      

    See Surfin' USA for the complete lowdown on this painful mastering track information. The best track I’d recommend doing is either Bristol or Richmond. Both have easy lap times to beat and are short to boost.

  • You have won a race at every circuit in the game.

    (4)  

    There are 27 tracks to win on. You can find a complete checklist HERE for your convenience. This is stackable with the online achievement, if you play career and win every race, you will still need to win a single player race on Kentucky Speedway. (as pointed out by vithzeral).

  • You have qualified in pole position at every circuit in the game in Career Mode.

    If you follow the roadmap, you will get this after qualifying 1st at Homestead during career. If you are having trouble, TURN OFF ABS, run some practice laps, restart restart restart and restart until you qualify 1st. If you do manage to beat the time on your first lap, you can press start and retire to save time. It will keep your first laps’ time. Once again for a checklist to make your life easier, you can go HERE.

  • You achieved 20 rival victories.

    This can only be done online! DetroitSSteele and I have found the surefire way to make the achievement unlock. You can boost this in private matches, HOWEVER, the host cannot earn rival wins. The person who joins can then place 1st and it will unlock after the twentieth win. It did for me, it did for him, it should for you. I must also give credit to FearlessEugene because he was the first to point out that the host cannot earn rival wins for some dumb reason or another.

    NOTE 1: Sometimes you will notice you will earn "Race Rival Win +300" and sometimes you will not. This does not affect the achievement, we busted this myth earlier today. I only saw the message twice, yet I unlocked it after 20 wins.

    NOTE 2: The fastest track to boost this is actually Watkins Glen. Bristol is 10 laps at 16-17 seconds a lap (takes about 3 minutes without load times) and WG is only one lap at 1:20 a lap or so. This may slow the process down a tad, but its still a grind !

  • You achieved a total of 100 fastest laps.

    (1)  

    You can only earn 1 towards this achievement per race, and you must have the fastest lap OF THE RACE. Even with that said, I find the stupid AI beating my times almost every race. so If you're like me and need to get this done quickly, go into split-screen and turn opponents off. If you are mastering tracks in the split screen method you will get this after the 20th track or sooner. If you are trying to earn some in career, good luck and hope some stupid guy named Ryan Truex doesn’t pull off a impossible lap time.

  • You have achieved over 6,666 NXP in a single race.

    Method 1: Go into quickplay, select a short track and put it on 25 laps. Qualify first and lead every lap. Eventually you will start lapping cars as well (30 points per car). If done correctly, you will have 9,000 or more points by the end of the race. (BEST METHOD)

    Method 2: The championship showdown. If you compete in this invitational event, your goal is to stay on the track as long as possible. You will get points for leading laps, dominating, and the biggest gain: 30 points per lapped car. Then proceed to make your pit stop around lap 6-8. You can then start getting a handful of clean passes. On the second segment, finish up the clean passes, move into first, and repeat the leading process. I had 10,700 NXP at the end of the event (I did not even win it).

    Method 3: abuse the sponsorship bonuses in career mode. If you make the chase, you should have almost every sponsorship bonus in the game (if you qualify that is). With a very good burnout and maybe a 5% long race, you should get this as well. If you are struggling to earn this much in career, resort to Method 1.

    Method 4: The Bristol pileup method. This is not always the best method, but you can cause a wreck on Bristol that will clog the entire track, and then you can lap everyone with ease as they get stuck on the track. This is also not the best method because cautions tend to fly even with CAUTIONS TURNED OFF, but it is hella funny when you are bored.

  • You reached Rank 10.

      

    See NASCAR Legend for information on ranking up. You should get this very early.
    Total amount of experience needed: 5,000

  • You ranked up for the first time.

      

    See NASCAR Legend for more information on ranking up. You should get this before completing career.
    Total amount of experience needed: 84,000

  • You reached Rank 30.

      

    Total NXP required for rank 30: 841,000.

    As stated before, your earn NXP for things you do during races. You also get finishing bonuses as well. There is no quick way to level up, but I can give a few tips on ways you can earn experience.

    - During the Race: You get points for passing cars (cleanly), leading laps, pulling off fast laps, and even lapping cars. Staying out from nets 100 points every 15 seconds.
    - After the Race: You earn experience for the following: Finishing first (or wherever), beating your rival, no rewinds, and sponsorship criteria. Finishing first nets you a whopping 1000 points regardless of race length, so take advantage of this.
    - The Burnout: If you can perfect your burnout by hammering LT and RT after winning a race, you can net up to 1,750 points, and that’s certainly a lot for 30 seconds!
    - Mastering the track: If you master a track, you get 5,000 NXP points… With 27 tracks that can pay off if you do some of them.
    - Invitational events: Meeting the criteria for these pay decent points as well, so don’t overlook them
    - If I forgot anything let me know and I will add it.

    The quickest way to level up based on time is to start a two lap bristol event and win the race. Max out your burnout for 1,700ish points, and you'll also get 1,000 for winning, 100 for no rewinds, and 300 for rival victory on top of about 500 points during the race. It takes about a minute and half with load times to get 3,500 NXP this way. This is very boring however and is only recommended if this is the last thing in the game you are planning on going for. partial credit to TealPavelski because I noticed after typing this method that he also posted this in the forums.

    WARNING: I have had many people claim that they have had one of the four leveling achievements not unlock. If you pass that rank, there is no way to unlock that achievement and you are S.o.L. As of right now, the only thing i can say (for the 100th time) is BACK UP YOUR SAVES!

  • You reached Rank 20.

      

    See NASCAR Legend for more information on ranking up. You might have to grind this out after career.
    Total amount of experience needed: 332,500 NXP

  • You have driven 500 miles.

      


    Not as bad as it seems and it will come with time. I believe I hit 500 miles somewhere around rank 21.

  • VIP

     

    20

    You completed all three objectives for a single sponsor in Career Mode.

    Under career à Sponsors there is a list of 12 of these all with three objectives. This does not have to been done in one race.

  • You competed in every Invitational Event.

    There are a total of 19 of these. The last one will unlock after completing race 35 in career mode. As stated in the achievement description, you only need to complete them, winning does not matter. WARNING: If you are dropping out of the race for the "Legendary Driver" achievement, in order to get this achievement you MUST finish all the laps in all 8 Legendary Coin races...Dropping out will give you the coin achievement but NOT this one. You do not have to win them, just finish the allotted laps.

  • You entered the Create New Paint Scheme Menu

    You can find this under ‘Car’ and ‘Paint Schemes’ at the main menu.

  • MVP

     

    20

    You received full sponsorship status for your driver in Career Mode.

    You can view these under career à Sponsors. There are twelve of them to complete, and none of them are too terribly difficult.

  • You achieved a top 10 finish in every Career Mode race.

    There are 36 races in career mode. Just finish in the top ten for each one.

    NOTE: you can replay races to get any you may have missed, but only until you enter the chase (race 27) after that you can still restart races during the race, but you cannot replay them from the menu.

  • You won a race in Career Mode and got the full 195 points.

    This can be done in any of the 36 races. You must win the race and lead the most laps to earn all 195 points.

  • You performed a draft of 500 yards.

    You will need to get close to a car in front of you to draft. It is fairly easy to get 500 yards, and you should have no problem doing this in the first race at Daytona.

  • You finished top of the Career Mode standings and became the Sprint Cup series champion.

    In career mode you must finish well to qualify for the chase, and then do exceptionally well to beat out the 12 contenders. Again this is not difficult at all against easy AI, and especially not difficult when you qualify 1st for every race, and can even replay races until you max out your series points. You will get "Race to the Chase" during career mode for being in the top 12 in points after Richmond (race 26), and then you will earn this if you win the championship itself.

  • You achieved enough points in Career Mode to move into The Chase, as one of the top 12 drivers.

    See "Series Champion".

 

Secret achievements

  • You photographed the driver celebrating on the car after a Career Mode race win.

    After winning a career mode race, proceed to do your burnout. When you see your driver on top of the car celebrating, press start and go to camera mode to take a picture of him (or her).

  • You received a drive through or speeding penalty.

    The easiest way to do this is to make your way around the track and duck into pit road at like 150 miles an hour. Enjoy your 0 points.

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