NASCAR Changes: The Old Timers are Going to Hate it

After watching NASCAR’s live special on January 23rd where they announced several point format changes to races, I was excited to hear the news. However, with a fan base that is notoriously resistant to change, this year could cause the most heartache. In fact, I think Old Timers will hate the new rules and will need the whole season to gripe and slowly consume the radical changes. (Old Timer Definition: A devoted, old-school NASCAR fan who liked the old ways of scoring, where the driver with the most points after 36 races is the Cup Champion. Dislikes the Chase).

NASCAR could have kept the status quo, but declining TV ratings and increasingly empty seats during races forced their hand. With the help of its new entitlement sponsor, Monster Beverage, and with these new format changes, NASCAR is aggressively pursuing the younger, short attention spanned generations. Let’s review some of the changes that are coming for this season.

Name Change: NASCAR moves on from the word “Chase”

After years of promoting the post-season as “The Chase”, the NASCAR brass and stakeholders came up a new and improved description, one that is more mainstream and fan friendly. They settled on a word that any sports fan could truly understand. That word is called, “Playoffs”. What NASCAR officials found out when talking to sponsors over the years, some sponsors would ask, “Tell me about the Chase”. NASCAR’s simple reply was, “It’s our playoffs.” Now, it’s official, the “Playoffs” are in, the “Chase” is out.

Races Broken Up into Three Stages

Gone are the Days where you can start a NASCAR race, watch a few laps, head out to do some yard work, fire up the grill, then head back in to finish the end of the race. Races will be more intense early on. Teams and drivers will have more chances to obsess about and earn points during the race.  Each race will be split into 3 distinct and point making stages: Stage 1, Stage 2, and the Final Stage. Since each track is unique, NASCAR will have to define and set the Lap where Stages 1 and 2 will end for each race(Stage 1 and 2 will be the same length). The Final Stage will be the remaining number of laps. The top ten finishers at the end of Stage 1 or 2, will get points. Additionally, the stage winner will get one playoff point. At the end of Stages 1 and 2, pit road will open up, and NASCAR will run commercials for a TV break, much like other sports at the end of quarters and halftime.

The Final Stage is what we have now, the driver crossing the finish line on the final lap is the overall winner of the race.   Position points are awarded like today, 40 Points for First, 39 Points for Second, etc…the new wrinkle is that the race winner will also receive 5 playoff points.

The points for “Leading a Lap”, and “Most Laps Led” have been eliminated in this new format.

Why did NASCAR do all of this?

Besides just “For the Fans” reason, the new format rewards consistent and dominant drivers. How many times did we see our favorite driver dominate a race, only to be involved in an accident in the last 2 laps as he was spun out trying to win the race to finish 31st? Drivers now can earn points incrementally during the race by doing well in the 2 Stages before the finish. So, if a dominant driver does crash at the end, at least he earned some points based on his great performance earlier in the race.

In 2016, a driver automatically qualified for the playoff if he won a race, and stayed in the Top 30 cars by the end of the regular season. Drivers who won earlier in the year became complacent and coasted until the playoffs. However, this complacency made other regular season races less competitive. To make each race count and more competitive, NASCAR added the “playoff point” bonuses, given to each stage winner and race winner. Additionally, at the end of the regular season, the top ten finishers also receive playoff points. The incentive to earn playoff points during the regular season keeps drivers engaged and active all season long gunning for that elusive championship.

With all of these changes, will NASCAR actually lose fans? Maybe. I think that Old Timers will hate the changes. They already disliked the playoffs, and now, each race is chopped up into 3 parts like having 3 mini-races? Hopefully, the excitement, the incentivized competition, and the development of new race strategies with these new changes can overcome any fears and reluctance of the Old Timers. Let’s hope too, that new fans pay attention and enjoy the fundamentally changing sport of NASCAR.

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