Why Did NASCAR Implement Stages? - Nascar Chronicle This content is imported from YouTube. By the way, Brad Keselowski had an interesting view on this topic: "The teams are pretty adamant that they want to see the laps count, because they are putting miles on the engines and don't want that to count for nothing," he said. This is the exploratory stage where fundamental questions are answered, such as what will actually be implemented. So, I think it was the No. There is nothing better than watching a close race from the comforts of your living room, except for maybe a viewpoint from the trackside. How NASCAR Stages Work - Ultimate Beginner's Guide Now they can make banging snacks and still follow their teams perfectly. Let's say Chase Elliott won a race at Pocono Raceway, earning him a total of 40 points. Another driver, Ryan Blaney, finished third at Pocono and earned himself 38 points. The drivers have something to race for, even when it's just lap 20. It depends on what you watch NASCAR for and what you wish to get out of a race. In nascar what is a competition caution? - sur.afphila.com Restrictor plate | Stock Car Racing Wiki | Fandom This, along with the five points given to the race winner, adds up to a grand total of 61 points. And coming off pit road under caution after Stage 1, Hamlin made it off pit road first to keep the lead -- just as the left front wheel came off his car and zipped past him at the exit of pit road. Stage racing was implemented in NASCAR to remove the chance of race domination by single race drivers. Teams now occasionally risk with their pit strategy to increase stage points. It essentially breaks each race. Fans get more action, and televised events fit commercials in better than interrupting green flag racing. The race is split into four 100-lap stages. TV/RADIO: Qualifying coverage on CNBC begins at 11 a.m. Pre-race . Continuing its tradition of innovation, NASCAR, in collaboration with drivers, teams, and manufacturers, built a new generation of car the NASCAR Next Gen car aimed to further reduce costs. Ever since i got in my pedal powered car 40 or so years ago I have been a lifelong fan of all motor racing, particular NASCAR and Indy, so this site is made to help share the answers to those questions that pop up mid race! NASCAR vs IndyCar: What are the 4 main differences? But NASCAR is, first and foremost, an entertainment entity and recent history has shown its decisions will most often reflect that reality. NASCAR hasnt just captured the imagination of its race fans, but also of much of the wider world through the medium of film. Analysis: How the addition of stages affected the Daytona 500 - Motorsport STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 120. NASCAR Cup Series: Jimmie Johnson could return in 2021, Broncos' Derek Wolfe to Get MRI on Elbow Injury; Vic Fangio 'Not Optimistic'. NASCAR: Is shortening race distances really a good thing? All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands. NASCAR announced that the Dover Cup race has been postponed to Monday because of rain. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It is time for the 65th running of the Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest event on its biggest stage, kicking off what many believe could be one of the sport's biggest seasons . MORE: NASCAR outlaws Ross Chastain Martinsville move, MORE: Hendrick Motorsports president says no changes in driver policy. The caution laps counting seems kind of right but so wrong. The winner and all other positions are decided in the third and final stage. Now, you may wonder how stages increase the excitement of racing. NASCAR earlier this month announced the stage lengths for those 36 Cup Series races in 2020, beginning with Sunday's 200-lap Daytona 500. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'speedtwitch_com-leader-1','ezslot_18',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-speedtwitch_com-leader-1-0');Stages break the 3-hour single race into 3 mini races, each with its own points and race winners, while helping to keep racers more bunched together during the middle of the race duration. No matter which side you fall on, it seems like stage racing is here to stay. But after the first season with stages, Keselowski said I like stage races because there is a reward at the end of each one of them.. NASCAR is settling with people in the crowd who sustain life altering injuries like it's nothing. Just uncalled for. Officials issued the rules bulletin to teams . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Maybe thats just too old school. This is true for the Truck Series, Xfinity, and the Cup Series, considered the top three tiers of NASCAR racing. By doing this, they will often trade worse track positions on the next restart to try banking stage points on the front end. This is because only the finishing order matters in determining a NASCAR champion. A short track built within the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum served as the venue for the 2022 competition. Max Jg90270 Max Bs133hmfg Np This is important because it reduces the number of full-screen commercial breaks during green flag racing, something that often irks fans watching from home. When comparing to the five-year averages of the races from 2013-17, 11 races have exceeded the five-year average, but only three by more than 10 minutes. When the mid-point of the race is stopped for a stage change, instead of being the highest speed passing portion, some fans may be a little put-off. Drivers who reel off multiple victories during the season enter the playoffs on much better footing than drivers who point their way into the playoffs with no victories. The top 10 finishers in each stage receive points on a 10-1 scale in the NASCAR points standings. But while stage racing likely isnt going anywhere following its first three seasons in the sport, you really have to wonder why its here, what purpose it serves, and above all, whether or not NASCAR should just do away with it. Your email address will not be published. After an early-race crash sparked by Ross Chastain parked Brennan Poole in Mondays Cup race at Dover Motor Speedway, Poole said Chastain probably needs to get his butt whooped.. These playoff points are added to the drivers point total at the beginning of the playoffs if they qualify for the 16-car field. On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt hit a wall, and American motorsport was forever changed. And current drivers seem to have quickly grown accustomed to stage racing and accepted it. Sunday Road America Cup race: Start time, weather, TV The playoffs start better for drivers with a string of triumphs than those who have to work their way through the regular season with no wins. A Beginners Guide to NASCAR: 6 Highlights of What NASCAR Is Like. Each Cup race with the exception of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (with four) has three stages. But it is one part of the system that just seems a little too foreign, riding around waiting for the pits to open until television coverage comes back from commercial breaks. By all public indications, leadership is happy with the increased urgency during the middle portions of the race and the different strategies which come from them. It all just comes down to excitement and incentive at the end of the day. Stage 01. Each race is divided into three stages (four for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway), and points are awarded to the. Stage 2 ends at Lap 250. The field for the Daytona 500 is determined by the two qualifying events known as the Daytona Duels. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. placed second. Many would say yes. I think he was actually better than me at the Bristol dirt race and had a better long run car than I did. The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is the only NASCAR race that does not have 3 stages. Stage points are only handed out for the first and second stages. However, after Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s fatal crash in the 2001 Daytona 500, safety burst to the forefront of NASCAR's technology development. NASCAR awards a playoff point to the stage winner along with 10 points. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. While it is true that 10 points for winning a stage is nowhere near 40 points for winning a race and sacrifices are often made, such as not making a late pit stop, to finish stages in the top 10, those point totals still add up. #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/N7xf3dX6FD. ASA * Requires a second dash bar in the car's centersection. Stage racing has been controversial among fans but is now a staple of NASCAR competition. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the PRN broadcast. This quirk technically makes the Coca-Cola 600 the most valuable points race in NASCAR because it has 1 extra stage worth of points available. There were heat races to select the field for this race, but there were no stages for the main event. Stage points incentivize racing throughout the race and not just for the win and to offer more passing opportunities during the race. How NASCAR's choose rule works - NASCAR 101 It wasnt uncommon for many teams to elect to pit before the first stage in a road course race and eschew points to put themselves in better track position for the final two stages. Your email address will not be published. Every NASCAR driver will likely say that hasn't changed. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. As soon as the green flag is raised and the cars accelerate, the final stage most closely mimics an authentic, vintage NASCAR race. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. NASCAR deemed Stenhouse was in the lead when a caution was called on the final lap of the race.Ross Chastain topped Stage 2, while Brad Keselowski picked up a Stage 1 win. That's why less people are watching. That is just the nature of that beast of restrictor plate racing.. And each time it does, it has seen the very predictable consequences . NASCAR had a problem in a truck race when the pits were closed under caution but were reopened after the leader had passed the commitment line. The length of stages at Phoenix Raceway will be different than the stage lengths at other major series races like Daytona. Furthermore, the introduction of stages gave NASCAR drivers an extra incentive by competing for highly coveted stage points. Officials believed this was a great way to improve its races. Your login session has expired. When we introduced stage racing we took an element of strategy away from the event, Sawyer. There will be no stage breaks for the Craftsman Truck Series race at Circuit of the Americas (March 25). The second stage also makes up 25 to 30 percent of the race. The final stage often accounts for between 40% and 50% of the entire distance, whereas the first and second stages typically make up roughly 25% to 30%. Those events will keep stage breaks because they have non-live pit stops where the field comes down pit road together and positions cannot be gained or lost provided the stop is completed in the prescribed time by NASCAR. The stage winner is awarded 10 points, the second-highest driver earns 9 points, down to the 10th-place finisher, who earns one additional bonus point. ET Monday. This allows for planned breaks around the middle portions of the race which, while generally not as eventful as the start or finish of the race, can have moments that fans dont like missing. Stage racing is simply NASCAR's way of bunching the field up a couple of times and trying to create something interesting . There are guys that are better at that style of racing than maybe me, but I still think it comes down to certain circumstances at the end where you are, how it all works, how it all happens. Drivers have, on several occasions, finished races well outside the top 10 but still placed top five in total race points due to their stage results, and race winners havent always been the highest scorers pretty strange for a playoff system that supposedly rewards wins above everything. Midway through the season -- 18 races down, 18 to go -- it's a smart time to wonder if NASCAR did something right in dividing all of its races into three stages. The formula for NASCAR has been pretty simple in terms of race format. These points add up to positions and advantages in playoff races and continue to accumulate through the first stages of the championship race. Furthermore, by vying for highly prized stage points, stages provided NASCAR drivers with additional motivation. We also participate in other affiliate programs which compensate us for referring traffic. Even lauding that the fence "did its . Instead of a long 100 or more lap race that requires endurance and only slows down for yellow flag laps and or caution flags, NASCAR decided to add 2 more stages to each race. Watching a race takes some preparation and rationing of snacks. The final stages decide the races placement, giving them even more points. Brennan Poole on Ross Chastain at Dover pic.twitter.com/cyj2TBODqL. Bobby Allison flipped into the fence in 1987 and nascar flipped its shit. Stage racing means every pit strategy becomes entirely based on the stages. Or four, when talking about the 600-mile race at Charlotte. Well, this does in the sense that it sets up who has the best chance to earn points in the first stage. Joe is the owner and creator of this website. Stage points incentivize racing throughout the race and not just for the win and to offer more passing opportunities during the race. NASCAR: Just how good is Bubba Wallace at superspeedways? The first two are about a quarter distance in length each, with the final stage making up over half the race. The final stage goes off the points listed above. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". These numbers are all added together to give the number of points each driver has gained from the race. What was previously compared to the endurance required of top athletes and marathon runners has been effectively halved, making it far less impressive when a racer flies across the finish as the checkered flag flies. All with the aim of making racing both closer and more exciting a spectacle. The reasons NASCAR implemented stage racing is myriad, as outlined in the info that follows. Some of them are quite surprising. At Phoenix Raceway, the stage breaks lasted for 12 laps, equating to .26 hours or 15.6 minutes. NASCAR issues Cup Series rules changes for superspeedways | NASCAR When NASCAR races first began, there were no required interruptions during all of the action. Would love your thoughts, please comment. The Decline and Fall of NASCAR - The American Conservative Except now, cars flip into the fence with regularity. Stage racing is simply NASCAR's way of bunching the field up a couple of times and trying to create something interesting . All Cup races have stages now, and every Cup race has at least 3 stages. Not all, of course, but most. C'mon, admit it. NASCAR now races in stages during Cup, XFinity and Trucks Series races but what actually are stages in NASCAR? Stage racing was implemented in NASCAR to remove the chance of race domination by single race drivers. Earnhardt was a legend. I think a lot of that is going to come into play this weekend and next weekend, so I am optimistic and hopeful that we will have some really strong runs at Dover and Kansas. All NASCAR points races now have stages. ARCA * All cars must be equipped with a Race Safe light system. FORECAST: Weather Underground Mostly cloudy with a high of 59 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the race. All the drivers are bunched together, 2-by-2, trying to make the most of their fresh tires and improve track position while they still can. Sometimes this gamble pays off and other times it backfires greatly. Obviously, we have our ups and downs, and I would say that we have struggled at times for sure, Martinsville being the worst. However, this is no longer the case. NASCAR reveals rules modifications for 2023 | NASCAR.com Stage points are awarded to the top 10 finishers after stages one and two. For some unknown reason of late, when it comes to racing in the rain, NASCAR has decided to go where it has never gone before. This, in the end, brings in more money for the drivers, the teams, and the racetracks. They want it to matter. and then runs 40 percent of the race in the final stage. As with any new rule, NASCAR is learning as it goes when cautions near the end of the stage mess up plans to close the pits once the leader hits the start/finish line with two laps left in the stage. The first two-thirds of 35 of 36 Cup races feel all but irrelevant. Having points available at predetermined increments during a NASCAR race has changed the way races are run in other ways as well. A profound loss of a racing icon changed the way NASCAR viewed safety. This bet occasionally pays off, but it can also have disastrous results. However, nothing public has been floated surrounding any imminent stage changes. 7 Changes NASCAR Has Made to Make the Sport Safer