{"id":39099,"date":"2017-05-02T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=39099"},"modified":"2017-05-01T10:40:34","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T17:40:34","slug":"is-stage-racing-making-nascar-exciting-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/is-stage-racing-making-nascar-exciting-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Stage Racing Making NASCAR Exciting Again?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is
Credit: Hendrick Motorsports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I told a buddy of mine the other day about how NASCAR races are in stages now. He couldn\u2019t believe that there are actually programmed breaks in the race. I remember hearing something along the same lines when the \u201ccompetition caution\u201d was first introduced. Now, while it may not be universally liked, the competition caution is at least an accepted part of the sport. I don\u2019t think stage racing is going to take as long to sway the unconvinced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stage Racing Is Not New in NASCAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Can-Am Duels at Daytona are in effect stage races. These are races that have been held prior to the Daytona 500 and lead up and influenced the starting order of it for years. Although not many would admit it, they are stage races. The real new thing about stage racing this year is that every race, in all three national series, is broken up into three stages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doubting Thomas Admits He Was Impressed by Racing Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Is
Stage racing is making the races more exciting. Credit: Hendrick Motorsports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My buddy John grew up watching NASCAR back in the day when the only drivers who weren\u2019t racing to the front were the ones who couldn\u2019t. There came a time when \u2018points racing\u2019 became a thing – don\u2019t push yourself or your car, don\u2019t take any risks until the last part of the race. Being involved in or the cause of a wreck fighting to keep yourself in the top 10 all day doesn\u2019t do you any good if you\u2019re not around when the checkered flag waves.<\/p>\n

\"Is
Geoff Bodine and team manager Harry Hyde are from the day when the drivers all went hard from the drop of the green to the waving of the checkered flag. Waltrip calls the attitude \u201ccheckers or wreckers.\u201d Credit: NASCAR.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Points for leading a lap and leading the most laps gave drivers with cars that could run up front all day to fight to do so. However, many perennial favorites were found actually moving towards the back of the lead lap for most of the race, usually avoiding the pitfalls that befall some (sometimes many) of their competitors in the laps leading up to what Darrell Waltrip calls \u201cGo Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Is
Kyle Larson is the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup points leader, thanks in part to his stage performances to date. Credit: NASCAR.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a couple exceptions, this year\u2019s eight races have been much better throughout the race than previous years. The fact that stage points carry over to championship\/Chase points is instilling the urge to run at the front throughout the race, or at least at the ends of the stages in more drivers. Drivers who wouldn\u2019t normally run up front are doing so. There\u2019s more passing and side-by-side racing action throughout the race than we\u2019ve seen in a long time.<\/p>\n

\"Is
Ricky Craven is also from the time when it just felt like the drivers put more effort into the whole race instead of just one or two parts. Credit: NASCAR.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John last watched a NASCAR race more than 15 years ago. He said that even then the excitement factor in most races rose and fell as drivers decided to start seeing how well they could pass and what they needed to work on to help them do so more efficiently. He said Monday\u2019s Food City 500 at Bristol had more excitement throughout the race than what he remembered from his last race.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Drivers Still Gain Championship Points in Three Ways<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last year, a driver could earn bonus points for leading a lap and for leading the most laps of the race. Stage racing has done away with these bonus points and instituted new ones gained in new ways. Winning the race still nets the driver five points the other drivers don\u2019t get, but these are now playoff points that mainly count in The Chase. Stage winners get one playoff point for use in The Chase. These points are added once The Chase begins.<\/p>\n

\"Is<\/p>\n

Where you were in the standings when the checkered flag waved determined where on the zero to 40 championship points scale you land. Points earned here determine if you become a member of The Chase after the 26th<\/sup> race of the season at Richmond. Stage points, ten for the stage winner on down to 1 for tenth place, also count towards a driver\u2019s championship total.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Points for Doing Well Pushes More Drivers Towards the Front<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Is
Kyle Larson has won so many stage points that he has a comfortable lead in the points. Credit: Chip Ganassi Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doing well in the first two stages of races delivers rewards up to the Chase and beyond. It\u2019s like the \u201cgetting a win lets us do xxxxxxxx\u201d from back when getting a win basically secured you a spot in the Chase. Points garnered in stages can be the difference between advancing to The Chase or not. They can also be the difference between advancing or not between rounds of The Chase.<\/p>\n

\"Is
Credit: NASCAR.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sure, except for the \u201cusual suspects,\u201d drivers at the back aren\u2019t going to fight tooth and nail to get to the front from the drop of the green and keep at it until the checkered flag waves throughout the race. Stage points means that more drivers are going to fight to get and stay in range of that magical \u201cTop Ten\u201d so that they can make a run with any chance of succeeding.<\/p>\n

\"Is<\/p>\n

That\u2019s making for better, more exciting racing than what we\u2019ve seen the last few years. It could be improved upon by adding another stage to every Cup race, breaking the race up into four equal segments. Jimmie Johnson recently said, \u201cIt\u2019s tough. The competition in this garage area, the format and the fact there are points and a rhythm of the race with stages, it\u2019s like three shorter races now and there is a reward at the end of each of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski, who was one of the drivers with whom NASCAR consulted when deciding to implement stage racing, said \u201cIn general, NASCAR wanted there to be more moments that mattered, more moments that make the SportsCenter highlight reel\u2026 That was a key moment in the race, and it\u2019ll be a key moment in the season as we get into the playoffs. But that\u2019s what this format is supposed to be about, is having more moments like that. Whether you agree with specific moves is really neither here nor there, but when you put more on the line throughout the race, you get more moments like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Is
JJ has two wins but isn\u2019t the points leader because he doesn\u2019t have much to show in stage points. Credit: Hendrick Motorsports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What do you think? Has stage racing brought excitement back to NASCAR, or have \u201cthe powers that be\u201d made another mistake that will drive fans away? Let us know how you feel in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t think stage racing is going to take long to sway the unconvinced.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":39111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3424,3470,5029],"tags":[1074,127,4790,41,4789],"class_list":["post-39099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-news","category-racing","tag-mike-aguilar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-rules-changes","tag-news","tag-rules-changes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/lead-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-aaD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39099"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39116,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39099\/revisions\/39116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}