Fortunately for the sport, a lot of younger fans seem to dig into the Saturday night dirt heat feel of the race stages, and aren't turned off by it. By placing in the top 10 at the end of the first and second stages of a race, drivers may now earn additional points. There is nothing better than watching a close race from the comforts of your living room, except for maybe a viewpoint from the trackside. 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. 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. ", Button battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut. The crew chief and pit strategies teams need to incorporate stage endings into their race plans, and with stage structures, stage wins can matter as much as race wins for the championship competition. Similar to an ordinary NASCAR event, both the Cup Series and Truck Series races will be divided into three stages, but changes to the format were implemented after Friday practice produced a . This is a key decision-making phase in implementation. All Cup races have stages now, and every Cup race has at least 3 stages. This added intrigue and strategy is exactly what NASCAR hoped stage racing would accomplish. You might be wondering why NASCAR races now have stages. Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag after qualifying was canceled Saturday by rain. 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. Sometimes stages work out as a 40/60 split, with 30% each for the first and second stages and the remaining 40% representing the final and longest stage. Often winners of stages and winners of the overall race are not the same, which also creates more action for sports betting, a very lucrative attraction NASCAR offers. Teams now occasionally risk with their pit strategy to increase stage points. I know it used to be, but nowadays, its like its almost not even necessary. NASCAR racing did not always include stage racing. However, the older lot might still reminisce about the old days prior to these additions.