Stage Points Fuel Debate as NASCAR's Championship Race Intensifies

The strategic allocation of points in NASCAR’s Championship Chase is sparking significant discussion among drivers, teams, and fans, with the impact of stage points at the forefront of the debate. Denny Hamlin, currently leading the championship standings, owes a substantial portion of his advantage to the 16 stage points accumulated at Darlington Raceway. This early lead, however, has ignited a familiar debate about the value and perceived fairness of rewarding performance within specific segments of a race, rather than solely focusing on the final finishing order.

Hamlin, a vocal proponent of the current points system, expressed his bewilderment at the criticism. "I mean, come on, man," Hamlin stated. "Now we’re arguing something different, like, just stop complaining for one week. That’s what (this format) was built around. We worked with NASCAR on this for quite a while and we came up with the stages, then we came up with, how to reward them." The rationale behind stage points, according to Hamlin and NASCAR, was to acknowledge and compensate drivers who demonstrate consistent speed and performance throughout an entire race, preventing dominant drivers from leaving a race with nothing to show for their efforts due to late-race misfortune. This mirrors the broader championship format, which aims to reward consistent performance over the entire season, not just a single race win.

Hamlin elaborated on the intended benefits of the stage point system, emphasizing its role in keeping the championship competitive. "So, the reason that they gave points the way they did, and awarded them the amount that they did at certain points of the race, is to reward a driver for their greatness if they go out and run the table," he explained. "That is what is great about this format, that even with four or five races to go, if someone is 100 points out — all it takes is running the table for a couple of races, and you’re right back in it. I think that it’s going to make it far more compelling, and it’s also going to reward those that perform great for an extended period of time. I think that the amount that the stages are rewarded are fair to the total amount that you get for the end of the race."

Kyle Larson, who has significantly benefited from stage points this season, ranking as the highest scorer in this category for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team, finds himself in a stronger championship position due to this incentive. Stage points have been the difference between a seventh-seeded playoff start and a position outside the top-10, and have narrowed the points gap between him and Hamlin considerably entering the Bristol Night Race. Despite his personal advantage, Larson acknowledges the sentiment of some traditionalists. "I think this format really rewards consistency," Larson said. "But I guess it rewards consistency throughout the whole race, where I think if we really wanted to get back to the authentic part of our sport that we used to have, I think going off of just finishes would be the most authentic way to crown a champion at the end of the year." He further conceded, "This is coming from somebody who is up there in stage points, as well, throughout the season. Without stage points, we would be further down. I don’t even know if we’d be in the Chase without stage points. So, yeah, I think I’m open to it. And I don’t know if they would make a change or not while still having stages, but yeah, I think stages, they seem to just be crazy important, which it is what it is."

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Ryan Blaney, despite a 35th-place finish at Gateway, remains within striking distance of Hamlin, trailing by only 33 points, a testament to the impact of stage points. Blaney cited his own experience at Gateway, where a race-winning car suffered a brake failure, resulting in a 21st-place finish and a significant points deficit. "When stage racing was introduced, the idea that when I learned that we were doing this was, ‘oh good, you’re going to get rewarded a little bit if you’re running up towards the front throughout the race and you have a problem at the end and you don’t finish good’ – like if you blow up or get in a wreck," Blaney explained, referencing the loss of a brake rotor on the frontstretch. "So I like the idea of being rewarded for running well through the race. Now you can counteract that with, ‘well, that shouldn’t matter because the end of the race is the finish and you should get points off of that.’ So I don’t know. I mean, we all race to what it is now. Everyone knows stage points are incredibly important. Everyone’s fighting for them. So I don’t really have an opinion on that too much. We go through this cycle of we make a change, we think it’s good for a little bit and then the outside world gets sick of it and they’re barking for a change."

Brad Keselowski also voiced his approval of the stage point system, highlighting the added value of the bonus point for achieving the fastest lap. "It actually feels pretty good to me," Keselowski commented. "Like I said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities to make it better but I don’t feel like there’s any big injustices there."

NASCAR’s decision to increase the points awarded for race wins this season, with a 20-point advantage for first place over second, further amplifies the significance of both victories and stage points. This dual incentive structure has allowed drivers like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell to make substantial leaps in the championship standings by combining race wins with accumulated stage points. For drivers like William Byron, who is currently 114 points behind Hamlin, the current format offers a tangible path to contention. "Winning is the easiest way to do that," Byron stated. "But this format rewards consistency so we need to qualify, score stage points and win races. If you do that, you’re going to close the gap pretty quickly."

Chase Briscoe sees stage points as a crucial element for mitigating the impact of poor finishes, referring to them as a "Band-Aid." He believes the current system encourages aggressive racing throughout the entire event. "I don’t think it needs a lot of work," Briscoe said. "The whole point of this was to encourage us to race hard all race, and to reward teams that ran well from start to finish. That’s what the champion should be in my mind."

Carson Hocevar, while labeling stage racing as a "gimmick," acknowledged its effectiveness in maintaining a tight championship battle. "I mean, it’s keeping the championship tight," Hocevar commented. "It’s still early in this Chase but if you had this format with stage racing 10 years ago, I don’t think we would have needed the knockout elimination format. Stage racing keeps it way closer than it would be without just the finishing order. It creates a lot of intensity all race. If you’re further back in the standings, you can make up a lot of points on a guy if he gets knocked out early and didn’t score any stage points, especially if you can win the race and score stage points. So, I think stage points are kind of a gimmick, and controversial, but I think those stage points could be really crucial once everyone gets to Homestead. I think it kind of works, and I haven’t come across any better way to decide the champion, and gimmicks don’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, right?"

Ultimately, the perspective from within the garage often boils down to adaptability. As Ryan Blaney noted, "I think those of us in the garage could care the least about it. We know what it is and we go race to whatever format or whatever point system they give us. Y’all tell us the rules at the start of the year and we just go race with it. I do know that stage points are really important. We put a lot of emphasis on it. If they weren’t, we would focus more on the end of the race. But really, I could go either way on that subject." This sentiment underscores the pragmatic approach drivers take to the evolving landscape of NASCAR scoring, where strategic adaptation to the current ruleset is paramount for championship contention.