some other system info would be nice (cpu and OS)
256MB ram would be a plus
Its definately not your graphics card.
First DeFrag your hard drive, if you havnt done it in a while. Do this every once in a while, it will help boost program loading speed, and reduce problems.
The only thing i can think of that would cause that problem is if you are running it under Software Emulation. There are three different things to run games, in some games, like HL you can choose which one you want. In the game itself, the settings/graphics menu, or whatever its called, see if you can find a setting for choosing one of the following Software (emulatoin/rendering), OpenGL, and Direct3D. Software rendering sucks, try both open gl and direct 3d to see which is best.
if this option is not in the menu of the game, it might also be in the start menu
go to the start menu, go to nascar 2002, and there might be some type of thing like "select your 3d device" or something like that, in which case you should choose the primary device driver. Hope this helps.
The first LAN I went to was at a PETA convention. They booted me after I shot a zombie in HL DM!