Why NASCAR Stage Racing Needs A REVAMP
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Stages were added to NASCAR races back in 2017 as a way to revamp races as well. But at the time the problems with NASCAR were largely on the racetrack, but with the Next Gen car this has been fairly helped out. Now the stage’s breaks look more like a crutch rather than a viable tool in making races better. So today I want to introduce my thoughts on why NASCAR stage racing needs a revamp.
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What do you think the future of stage racing in NASCAR should look like?
Points at end of stage, but no caution.
It shouldn’t exist
Nah just lose the yellows in between them
Personally I think we need a halfway break, because you know if the Truck series could do it in the 90's then so could the cup series.
I think there should be more points awarded to the stage winner
Just imagine the great strategy finishes we would have if we had no cautions at the end of stages. We’d see drivers go for both stg points and the win because of no guaranteed cautions.
That would be fun!
This has been what I’ve been wanting! Keep the stages and the points awarded, but get rid of the cautions after each stage
100% agree stop messing up the entire flow of the race.
Throw the green flag and let the race play out.
Yeah, I totally agree. There is no reason to have to have a caution at the end of the stage, just keep er goin!!!
I totally agree keep the stages but cycle it through under green no cautions
Honestly the only problem with stage racing is stage cautions
Really was a great suggestion, just keep it green.
Not going to happen, stages with breaks came about as a way to have guaranteed commercial breaks for the TV networks.
Exactly
Stage racing has grown on me but I want them to keep going after the Stage mark. For example, have them keep going after Lap 80 on a speedway and keep track of the top ten at the end of the lap and keep the race going. That will help shorten the race a little bit and it will allow for more ingenuity when it comes to pit and race strategy.
Yes
Nascar cant not force T.V. time outs.
Or like when the entire last stage has gone green but Nascar throws a bogus caution just to cause a hectic restart.
This is why older guys are not doing well im the series its all sbort runs.
Right on 👍🏾
Soo, basically the Winston format, where there was no stopping?
@@johnnymorrow5687 No, because you still get stage points. Yeah, the race wouldnt stop, but youd still be awarded for being first at the end of lap 80 (stage 1) and 160 (stage 2) then winning (stage 3). Literally the only change would be no end of stage cautions. Winston cup format is the best, imo, but what OP is talking about is not switching back to that.
What needs to happen is simple. Just keep stage wins and points, remove stage breaks. NASCAR is a team sport through and through, stage breaks ruin that. Plus a cool way of integrating the past is to remove the playoffs but keep the stages.
Yes. I’d love for them to bring back the Winston Cup full-year points system, but I’d even settle with the original Chase points system. Get rid of this playoff, elimination crap. Also, let’s ditch stage cautions!
This was the clear solution from the moment they announced stage cautions.
Let the race happen .
@@Tristin471 I wouldn't mind the current system if they just reduced the amount of drivers from 16 to 12 and you must be in the Top 15 in points to be eligible(opposed to now where 16 drivers and you have to be in the Top 20 in points); Eliminate a round in the playoffs and let the final 4 drivers race it out over the final 4 races instead of forcing a one race shootout.
I was on the fence for awhile but after the 2021 Indy 500 I officially sided against it. One of the reasons why that race was so good is because it played out organically and kept you on edge the whole time, whereas stage racing manipulates the flow and strategy throughout a race.
That race the differant strategies played out.
Exactly. There's no substitute for unscripted, pure racing, where you just let the race play out, whether it be good or bad because that's the way it's supposed to be. Sure, it'd be nice to have a great finish every race, but that's just the nature of the sport. You can't force a great race because then it feels completely fake.
But that is because in Indy car they don't play little silly games. Josef Newgarden won $4.2 million winning the Indy 500 this year. He passed on the last lap, turn 3 to take the win. There were 16 lead changes. Lat year he won it on the last lap, turn 4 for the lead and the win.
Stage Racing is fine just lose the yellows in between
Keep the stages. But loose the cautions that comes with it. that will show the true endurance of cars and drivers. Plus pit strategies.
It would be very fun seeing them go once again having fantastic race winning strategies again and show the true endurance test these things aren’t as fragile as a formula one car after all I love to see it play out like they did in the past rather than now races don’t have any real strategies anymore it’s just make it to the end of the stage get points then balls to the wall for the checkered flag now everyone safe on fuel and tires
I absolutely agree with you about getting rid of the caution flags at the end of stages.
I feel like they should make it optional for the stage cautions. Keep the stage wins and points but don't throw out the yellow and let them keep going if they have a caution within x amount of miles/laps.
No man award the same exact points just no stopping the race .
Its kills the entire race.
Competition cautions are bad for every reason except safety. Meaning new tire or track surface once to see where they are at. Anything more than that is bs
Ideally, stages should just go. See, most of NASCAR's problems are self-inflicted and self-perpetuating, which is the most frustrating thing about this sport. Stage racing's biggest benefit is reducing the cheap, unfair effects of the elimination playoff format by allowing consistent, year-long dominant drivers to build up a bigger buffer in case they have one bad race. In their current state, stages ruin the integrity and structure of the individual race in favor of helping the fight for a championship. However, If stages and points went away, the playoff format would be a little bit more broken. Therefore, stages should stay, but the caution should be removed. This would allow for a balance between stage/points racing and racing for the win that would hold nascar over for a little while
Its just lovely when a caution happens right before a stage and they go back to green with 2 to go before the stage break for more caution laps
Stage system is useless. NASCAR was always part-sprint part-endurance racing and stages threw it all under the bus
If they want to keep the stages, ditch the caution flags. They used to award bonuses at the halfway point, but didn’t throw the caution because of it. If they want to throw a competition caution for track conditions, tires, or whatever, that’s fine, but there’s already enough cautions without them throwing stage ones as well.
They need to just award the points and keep the cars moving and mark what positions the cars were in. We have the electronic scoring, use it, They don't need the caution stoppages to me.
@@johnhaas2523 There are already plenty of commercial breaks...
I said it from day one, needs to be rolling stages with no caution. While we are at it, I still think there should be a bonus point for leading a lap and 4 additional bonus points for leading the most laps. My reasoning behind the bonus point for leading a lap is that it would incentivize teams to alter pit strategy slightly under green to lead a lap again, and would also allow some smaller teams a chance to use strategy to grab some points throughout a season and maybe improve their final points position (This is important for the smaller teams). For the 4 points for leading the most laps, my reasoning is that a driver who leads the most laps would essentially earn 5 bonus points and it would be a meaningful chunk of points. Additionally, in the event that two drivers tie for the most laps led, that 4 points could be split in half with each driver earning 2 a piece. This would also keep the maximum points available at 65 (75 for the 600).
Make the race one big segment (like it used to be) but award points after set stage lengths (while continuing to race at speed). Nascar gets their stages, fans get a more flowing race.
NASCAR needs to learn from F1. Build up the character of your star drivers and manufacture drama off the track, and let the on-track action speak for itself. Sure, NASCAR has almost twice as many drivers as F1, so some guys, especially backmarkers, might slip through the cracks, but I feel like we really don't know much about the personalities of NASCAR drivers other than the ones who are assholes. I'd love something like Drive to Survive for NASCAR, or even something silly like AEW's Being the Elite. I want to see other sides to the drivers, and know what they're like behind the scenes so I can get better invested in their careers.
WE WOULDNT NEED SHORTER RACES IF WE DIDNT
1. Spend 7-10 laps under caution 10-15 times a race that’s half a race
2. Had more power and were faster stop slowing us down we should be going the other way with cars so safe that the only limitation is the disorientation caused by driving any faster than 220 for extended periods
3. Again just 7-10 laps every caution. Has got to go
We discovered an issue with running these cars at 210 on an oval back in the 80's, it's not safe for the audience.
@@dexterhochstetler3727 I know that’s what I referred to it not being safe I just want the power and speed back. Your talking 1-1.5 seconds per lap or more slower, 7-10 caution laps sometimes half the race, taking away what fans spend hundreds if not thousands to attend with less fan interaction annually.
Keep the racing green during stage breaks. If you still want pit stops in that time make the drivers pit within a certain window of the stage breaks.
I'm fully on one of two teams, stay green at the stages and pay the points or remove stages and make the points awarded really top heavy to incentivize winning. I really want to see the knockout championship scrapped, but i don't see that happening any time soon. I would settle for the original Chase format if it got rid of the playoffs.
I've said from the moment they announced the implementation of stage racing that I'd be fine with it as long as they kept the race green. Eliminating the stage caution would be a welcome change and could hopefully be the stepping stone to eliminating stages all together.
In the past, the whole reason that they would run 400, 500, even 600 mile races is that top series Nascar was an endurance series. The grueling, equipment breaking nature of it was to prove that these were the toughest, most fit cars and drivers.
But the cars stopped breaking, the drivers got comfier with cooling boxes and power steering, and with stage races it no longer was about surviving.
I'm fine keeping the reward for running well that stages give. Local short tracks even give a half way leader bonus prize.
Counter, I'd even be fine if we made the races shorter and more intense. Let those motors rev to 12k and ready to pop, give the teams option tires like the open wheels. Let these cars be the example of how gnarly a non wing'd race car can be.
Nascar needs to figure out what kind of a series it wants to be, I'd watch it either way but right now it's stuck in a middle ground and it's doing itself no favors
How about POINTS at the Stages, but NO YELLOW FLAGs
Just pass out the points and let them keep racing
This would change the way drivers and teams roll the dice regarding pitting
I agree keep the green flag out after each stage but do a competition caution at halfway
The thing is that stage cautions are what breed a lot of cautions so if you take out stage cautions I think cautions for incidents go down 50%
Ross Chastain lost at Darlington directly due to a stage caution. Ross isn't my current favorite driver by any means, but losing through no real fault of your own has to be annoying.
@@blueredlover1060 nascar has been adding artificial drama to keep the races entertaining. Stage cautions are a part of that artificial drama.
I’ve always said that nascar should keep the stages, but don’t throw a caution at the end of each stages. Just pick a lap to use as the stage end and award points to the top 10.
I miss the thrill of green flag pit stops, especially since slipping up on pit road now isn’t the end of the world. It would place a lot more pressure on the drivers and crew to get it right
Let's marvel for a moment that stages and the playoffs have gone untouched for an entire half decade.
Say what you want about this current iteration of NASCAR, they're not constantly tinkering and changing like they were in the late '00s.
Shoot, the damage clock getting an extra minute and the choose rule are about the most serious rule changes they've made since 2017,
Keep the stages but only have cautions when necessary.
Stage racing awards drivers for actually giving a damn before 75% of the way through the race. It also allows more entertaining finishes. Playoff points give the best drivers in the sport a huge advantage in the playoffs. Final four since the implementation of playoff points have always been arguably the four best drivers of the year except Kevin Harvick that one year.
Do we need stages at superspeedways? I don’t really think so because those races are entertaining every single lap (more often than not)
Also, how many times have we seen an accident coming to the stage end at a super speedway, thanks to Nascar manufacturing drama.
Also greenflag stops are fun
Either do away with all together or stop throwing the yellow to end the stage, keep it green.
Total agreement on the no cautions for end of stages. If not that, at least treat it as a debris type of caution, with 4 laps of caution max on most tracks. However, I will say that now I have started taking my kids to the races with me, it's been really nice knowing the stage breaks are there to use the bathroom and grab a bite with missing little to no actual racing.
I’m thankful you’re bringing this up, I thought this after Las Vegas race and now it’s a conversation I think it will reach nascar sooner or later.
I'm kind of torn on this one. I actually like the current format, and I completely understood why they introduced stage racing to begin with. I supported it because the racing during that time in general was not that great. However, I think now that the racing is more competitiv, more natural cautions happen, and the races are shorter in general, stage racing should be scrapped entirely. It did it's job as patching the bad racing, now there's not much of a need for it. So I think they should keep the format the same, but award a playoff point to who leads the most laps.
I remember when stages were announced, having definite yellow periods for ads was a huge selling point. I'm not sure how the broadcasters sell their ad time, but I can see situations where companies put their foot down and say "our ad runs in the last 10 percent of the race or we're not paying full price" or something. The broadcasters (if they don't already) have to make the stage breaks more appealing to buy time in than the last part of the race or we run into situations where the stage breaks aren't covered by ads but the last quarter of the race is heavy. If they stayed green (I like that approach myself as well) then they would have to show the commercials they would have shown in possible green runs. As you mentioned, this car being more evil to drive allows natural cautions to come more easily, so if there's a time to try it, it's now. It would be difficult to sell the races like F1 and have big companies with massive pockets like AWS no doubt pay the difference to go commercial free, and it's really hard to convince companies to cover 3 hours instead of 90 minutes. Shorter races could get more bang for the buck for advertisers as it's easier for folks to tune in for a higher percentage of the race (thus more eyes on the screen for longer at any given point) making their ads worth more per minute as it were, hence more valuable.
Pretty sure we have a stage break because of TV networks. TV networks hold a lot of power over what happens. I don't have a problem with rewarding points at certain points in a race, which is what stages do. Though, keeping the stage breaks at Daytona and Talladega can stay because those are 2 cautions that would happen anyway (based on how the current crop of clowns drive).
I like the idea of keeping the racing going but still rewarding stage points without cautions. Using strategies allows the racing to bring entertainment naturally because imagine if the guy running 4th with 20 to go has fresher tires and more fuel than the guys running 1st-3rd and they all run out of gas towards the end.
The comments on here are pretty much on point. I've been saying it from the beginning, the idea of awarding points at the end of the stage is great. Throwing a caution, ruins the curiosity of what's going to happen. It has removed a lot of the strategy and planning for a race. Just because there will never be any more than a hundred laps in a row. And each crew chief can have an exact plan of strategy before the race even begins and they know they can't get burned to a certain extent. It was really cool to watch Nascar start a race and you had no clue what was going to happen. Keep the stage points, get rid of the caution.
100% I like the idea of rewarding drivers throughout the race but I hate how stages break up the action. And exactly like you said it's taken most of the strategy out of races. Michigan used to be great cause it was always fuel milage but the past 4 years the races stunk due to that lack of strategy. It's always been my gripe with stage racing. I think you really hit the. nail on the head with my feelings on it.
Sorry, we're not fans of stages and my husband has started calling at nazcrap.
I am belatedly beginning to agree. Do the drivers have opinions?
i agree with your point, i think that the cautions add length to races and seem to hurt the races in the long run because at the end of the race, having a caution just seems to breed into another one which hurts the racing quite a bit. if it happened naturally, say Alex Bowman's engine blows up, then on the next restart, 7 or 8 cars get involved in a wreck because well, $#!% happens, it's fine. but if the stage caution comes out, then on the ensuing restart, Ross Chastain spins into the inside wall and ends his day, i don't feel like that's fair to the fans or, in this case, Chastain. get rid of the cautions at the end of Stages NASCAR please and let the actual racing speak for itself. as someone in their "key" demographic. i think they should take at least some interests in what we as fans have to say
My iRacing League has been doing stages without cautions since 2017 and it's been a hit, it offers so much to race strategy as well. for instance you can short pit to optimize your stage finish, or run long to maybe run the full race in 1 less stop.
Thank you for making this video!!! Pretty much explains it 100% basically! Stage cautions still desperately need to go. Maybe keep them for only a few races like bristol dirt but that's it. Heck, even Larry Mac once pointed this out too!
I think NASCAR could do a mix of both and vary it up depending on the event. The crown jewel events and road courses could be run the traditional way to allow for full race strategy and maybe focus stage racing around the shorter tracks.
Award points for position 1-40 on every lap, then 100x points for finishing position. Then everyone races hard every single lap. Total points scored will obviously be much higher but it's all relative and we'd get used to it.
I heard Realradman say this "Keep the stages, but don't throw the yellows"
Stages are only a good idea for Superspeedways... Without it they need to dissapear (especially in Road Courses)
I was at Road America last year and those stage breaks took forever. Going away with stage break cautions everywhere is my vote, but especially at road courses
I like you idea of no cautions at stage breaks. I hadn’t even thought of that.
Keep stages, don't throw a caution. Just snapshot the top 10 and keep the racing going.
Keeping the race green to end a stage is the best idea I’ve heard thrown around to remedy the stage caution. I believe another factor in making some of these races seem like they are dragging out is the fact that cautions breed cautions. How many times have we seen multiple cautions after a stage restart.
I like the points awarded during the race to reward drivers that dominate but get taken out at the end. If anyone watches older races and remember the unocal halfway challenge where they would reward like $20,000 to the person who leads at the cross flags. This idea would be like that and I like it.
Each year when I watch the Indy 500, It really makes me miss the natural progression of strategy and outcome of a race that a NASCAR race does not have anymore. A 500 mile race in NASCAR, I can't wait for the 2 stages are over so we *may* see some strategy because of it being the longest stage. I hate how the Daytona 500 is basically the Daytona 150-150-200 now. If they do change it back to the way it was, they can still keep all the bonus point and playoff point stuff. Bonus points was always a thing in NASCAR. Just get rid of the caution.
YES! THANK YOU! IM NOT THR ONLY ONE! Keep it green during the stages, we get the mixture of a battle for the stage win, and more overall strategy
No stages. Award points at the halfway point. Leader at halfway gets a “playoff point” and do the 10,9,8…2,1 for p1-p10. Then have the person who leads the most laps get 3 points plus 1 playoff point. Possibly have a bonus point(s) for fastest lap of the race.
Like the idea, I usually record and watch so I can fast forward through all the cautions and commercials. Like the stages because if someone had a great day then got wrecked near the end at least they have points to show that.
We have electronic timing and scoring, and the stage caution really screwed over Ross Chastain at Darlington. I would like to see the removal of stage cautions and while we're at it, return the lead a lap and most laps lead bonus points. A single point for leading a lap and two points (1 for leading a lap and an extra one) for leading the most laps would provide another avenue to gain points on the long term, but that's getting into the overall playoff format.
I think they should make it 5 for the most laps (1+4). Plus the point for leading a lap would be huge for the smaller teams that don't have the $$$ or means to run for stage points on a regular basis.
@@ba.diecast24 The old system was a 5 + 5, which is what I was basing the points on. I think that an extra 4 points for leading the most laps is just too much.
If they're going to do ANY form of stage cautions at all, i think they would be best off doing something like a caution half way, but I feel like ideally they'd be best off just not throwing artificial cautions
Stage races are my smoke breaks. I don't think races should be shortened. Before all the dead time nobody bitched about race lengths. Now it's nonstop everybody every video/article/post. Keep races long and keep stages green. I also hate when the last stage is shorter than one or both the first two which doesn't happen often but does sometimes.
Why not keep the pits closed and only open them with 1 to go. Make the teams pit only under green if necessary. That way you put the teams on their own race strategy to win or get left behind as to when they decide they need tires or fuel. By leaving the pits closed it makes the drivers take care of their equipment that much more.
Keep the stages if they have to but don’t throw the yellow flag.
This is a good take Iceberg. Love the video
I like stage racing because it assignes points throughout the race, so if your guy gets taken out but ran top 5 all day he isnt desimated point wise. I also dread the long stage break cautions and dont sit through them so staying green would be great.
If you remove stage cautions the racing will just return to the way it was before stages were introduced. Everyone "logging" laps until the next pit or caution and not running as hard as possible, with the only difference being points awarded at random times throughout the race.
I’ve never agreed with stage racing, or the so called playoffs.
The stages, as you say, just eliminates full race strategy.
It’s just a way for NASCAR to justify manufactured cautions.
NASCAR has a bug up their butt about bunching up the cars, with fake cautions, and stage breaks.
This is the most ridiculous and competition killing idea imaginable. We’ve said this from the start and it’s proved to be true.
NASCAR has fined many drivers for so called comments detrimental to the sport, yet nascar themselves continually do things detrimental to the sport.
As for the attempt to copycat the NFL a with the playoffs….
SCRAP THE ENTIRE PLAYOFF SYSTEM
The one win and your in is obvious B.S.
You should have to grub for position EVERY RACE to put yourself in a position to win the championship.
Running 15th every race and lucking into a win essentially puts you AHEAD of a driver that’s finished 2nd, 3rd, of 4th, every race.
THIS is the type of idiocy nascar is famous for…………
Maybe do a bit of both ideas? Stay green for the first stage, then go for the caution at the second stage. It would make sense for the second stage since that marks an official race anyways. Then we can get at least a decent restart for the last segment of the race and not slow the race down on the front end
The current stage racing system just doesn't make sense to me. Why is the break so long? I don't have FS1 so I watch the replays and skip them every time. All they need to do is take one lap back around to the start and finish in case anyone needs to pit, then one lap back around so people can line up for the restart, and that's it
Something as a guy who drives the odd racecar I love about NASCAR is the endurance aspect to the race.. I think NASCAR needs more variation in it's races, some 3 hour, some 2 hour, I would like to see a sunday that had 3 fully points paying 45 minute races (like a day of F3) and I would love to see a NASCAR 24 hour race, where cup cars had 1 cup driver 1 nationwide driver and 1 truck driver competing.
Also commercials should be in stage breaks so you have green flag coverage
I agree, also loved the background music from nascar 06🤩
I agree- keep stages but don't throw the caution flag
Stage racing as it currently is implemented at Road Courses absolutely kills any strategy calls. It also ruins the flow of the race.
So glad you finished the clip of Willy B running Joey into the wall.
Stage breaks are exactly why I never watch a NASCAR race live. I just record it and then watch a few hours after it starts so I can skip the stage breaks and RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF COMMERCIALS
Having F1 at the same time with the Darlington race was a big eye-opener. By the time the F1 race ended, the NASCAR race was just about halfway through stage 2.
Not sure about you guys, but I like the stages. Gives you a break to go to the rest room or grab a snack. Most of the time when watching races I have friends over watching, gives everyone chance to get up and not just be sitting there the whole time. …..keep stages
I don’t watch NASCAR and, whilst a lot of that is because I am British so the time zones don’t really work and we have much less interest in oval racing, the main reasons for this are the stages and playoffs. You mentioned F1 in the video and how it is doing a great job relative to NASCAR and I feel that a prime reason for this is that the races and the championship unfolds naturally, without outside interference. I agree with your point that the racing is often underwhelming, but there will always be interest in the strategy as we don’t know what is going to happen. People will gamble in the hope of a safety car aiding their strategy (e.g. George Russell at Miami), people try to undercut each other, sometimes someone will make an extra stop to utilise fresher tyres (this has been seen a few times in recent years between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen) and this makes the races exciting even when there is little else going on. And it wouldn’t happen if teams knew exactly when the race was going to be neutralised
Long races are a good thing, I would feel less invested in the series if all races were shorter. Plus it helps differentiate from the Xfinity and Truck Series. Stages breaks need to be pit stop and go!
Stage racing is STUPID! It's not a football game, it's motorsport. The playoff are stupid too, but if you insist and pretending your a ball sport then take you're top how many ever in points and or race winners. A guy who dominates the field all season long, can lose the championship in the last race??? Ridiculous.
First of all, I’m glad this wasn’t an Eric Estepp weekly video crying over race lengths. But yeah, keep the stage points, ditch the cautions, except at Talledega. I have no interest in watching cars line up against a wall and wait for four to go to start racing. But everywhere else I think the stages have actually taken away some suspense. Any strategy that plays out early in the race is much less dramatic because we know they’re gonna keep bunching the cars up so it doesn’t really matter what happens in the first two stages. Stages ruin road courses because the strategy there started on lap one. It was awesome seeing cars pit at all deferent times and having absolutely no idea who’s strategy would pay off in the end.
Great video and channel. I think they need to remove stage racing altogether and go back to like it used to be, no other racing series I’ve ever heard of has stage racing
No stages on road courses! Also, stages or not- we need to keep the race lengths at 300 miles or so. I never miss a race! But I do other things during the first 2 stages abs really sit down for the last stage. I am a hunting guide and have learned that kids in general only last 2 hours doing something, then they get bored. My son plays with his cars while the race is on and then is glued to the tv for the last 50 laps. An idea is to run 2 stages with a halftime show after the stage 1.
Here’s an idea I recently came up with, and if you think it’s completely crazy, I’m OK with that - I personally would like to see NASCAR ditch both the stages and playoffs system and replace them with a points system that awards a driver one bonus point for each lap they lead. I know that comes at the cost of increasing the probability of huge crashes, but if the drivers race smart enough, I think it’d be a good way to reduce both sandbagging and the chances of losing the championship due to things that the drivers have no control over.
I completely Agree with you! But i just think the stage racing could be gone.. and let the race flow without points being distributed at certain lap.. I think the points have to be distributed at the end of the race
Ideally, no cautions at the end of stages. If we must, then make the final stage at least 50% of the race so that there is the chance of strategy and long runs. Right now it seems like races are like 30,30,40 when it should be 25,25,50.
I like the depth that stage racing adds, just no need to throw a yellow, seeing drivers swap from aggression to conservation at stage ends during a long green run would be great
I've been saying since the start of stage racing, they should not be stopping the racing between stages. IMSA essentially does stage racing in their endurance races with points given out at certain hour intervals depending on the race lengths and they continue racing without forcing a safety car at the end of each stage.
I've also called for caution laps not to count as well
Like it or not NASCAR isn’t going to change a thing about stage racing. And no. We aren’t having shorter races. The more racing the better.
Extend practice by 20-30 minutes and stop with the competition cautions early in the race
Here's a thought.....Cut the field to 36 cars, because the last 3 or 4 cars that qualify are usually good for 3 or 4 cautions per race. Between the incident and the clean-up, races could be shortened quite a bit. The "also-rans" usually change the outcome of the race. ......hmmm
I agree. Award stage points, but stay green.
THANK YOU! I’ve been saying for some time now, keep the stages but just don’t wave the yellow. Let the race play out naturally.
I like NASCAR being 3-4 hours long. Why? I see NASCAR as a marathon, and F1 as a sprint. It gives me something to say when some one asks me the difference between NASCAR and F1. Stage breaks? I have no opinion one way or the other. More action vs "Stage winner, MTJ."
I still say scrap it entirely. It awards too many bonus points and even if they stay green, only 3 laps of the entire race matters. Unlike with lead a lap and most laps led, every lap matters. And the race winner should never not be receiving the most points
Edit: Also it means playoffs would finally be gone away with. Give me full season points back. No other motorsport has changed away from it because it just works the best
With the exception of the Daytona 500 and Coke 600, I think NASCAR needs to take a page from IMSA. Two hours all out (count the laps, but that number is actually irrelevant), then once the clock expires there's 10 laps to go with the existing overtime rules. That should fit everything, including proper post-race interviews of at least the Top 10, within a set three-hour TV window.
I was a casual I now watch every single race and bet on every single race and am very intrigued by the points standings
I thought I was alone in thinking there should be no yellow at the end of the stage.......just keep racing
I don't like how caution laps count towards the lap count I think they could just not throw cautions and just keep running the race.
Look I have said this for years now.
NO MORE STAGE CAUTIONS !!!!!!!!
You can 100% still award those same stage points with out interrupting the flow of the race .
T.V. time outs is all those stage cautions are .
NASCAR just can't let the race evolve.
Personally I watch the start of the race , then basically tune out until stage 3 .
I refuse to watch 3 to 6 laps of green flag racing then sit thorugh 3 to 5 laps of T.V. commericals pushing crap .
The question is how do we shorten the races? I think the question lies in the time frame. If NASCAR thinks 3hrs is a good time. Then make the race 3hrs long.
Example Dover:
Stage 1: 45 minutes
Stage 2: 45 minutes
Stage 3: 45minutes + 10Laps
With a 10 minute “caution” in between stages 1&2, 2&3.
Stage 3 is also 45 minutes, after the 45 minute clock a caution is wave pit road is closed and it’s a 10 lap shootout to the win.
It’s a running clock for everything except red flags. This will insure the races are around 3 hours.
I would have 3 races at 4 hours. Those would be my Triple Crown races. Daytona, Darlington, & Charlotte.
Every track will host 1 race, allow more tracks on the schedule