For many who watch NASCAR each week, the reply is pretty apparent. However for the uninitiated, the idea of stage racing is likely to be tough to wrap your head round. It’s not one thing seen in most different types of motorsports, but it surely’s been commonplace in NASCAR for the final eight years. So for those who’re a brand new fan and questioning what precisely stage racing is all about, you’ve come to the best place!
How do levels work?
Excluding NASCAR’s longest race (the Coca-Cola 600), each points-paying race on the schedule options three levels. The size of those levels are usually not set in stone and fluctuate from race-to-race, however at the least one sorta frequent thread is that the third and ultimate stage tends to be the longest.
On the finish of every stage, NASCAR will throw a contest warning, freezing positions as they take the inexperienced and white checkered flag on the end line. The sector will then have the chance to pit for recent tires and a full load of gasoline, in the event that they select to. They perform identical to some other yellow flag interval at that time.
Why had been levels launched?
NASCAR felt the necessity to break up their three to 4 hour-long races with the inclusion of stage breaks. This was and stays a reasonably controversial side of the game because it artificially interferes with the pure movement of the race, but it surely additionally has its benefits. A warning will erase any benefit the leaders have gained and convey the sector again collectively, maintaining the sector packed tightly collectively and stopping runaways. It additionally forces drivers to race tougher earlier in these occasions.
It’s additionally offers a very good alternative for the printed companion to get in some business breaks with out chopping away underneath green-flag situations.
What do drivers care about levels
So, the levels don’t simply function a compulsory warning to bunch up the sector. They’ve a direct impression on the championship. The highest ten finishers in every stage rating stage factors. It’s pretty easy because the stage winner will get ten factors, second will get 9, third will get eight, and so forth. Nonetheless, the stage winner additionally will get a playoff bonus level on high of the ten common factors. They are going to carry these playoff factors into the NASCAR championship rounds, giving them a buffer over any opponents who haven’t amassed as many playoff factors.
How do levels change the racing?
Phases have additionally had a serious impression on the best way these races play out. Methods have advanced to replicate their inclusion and that is extraordinarily obvious at highway programs and the few ovals the place pitting underneath inexperienced doesn’t value drivers a lap. Some drivers will short-pit in these conditions, making a cease earlier than the stage ends to be able to acquire monitor place for the restart to observe. They are going to sacrifice stage factors because of this, doing so with the assumption that the monitor place gained will probably be price it in the long run. On the different finish of the spectrum, drivers who haven’t been working up entrance or want factors for championship-related causes will keep and scoop up the stage factors left on the desk.
The levels additionally result in much more gasoline saving at drafting tracks with groups realizing precisely when cautions will fall and have brought on crew chiefs to easily break up sure levels in half when selecting when to pit. They’ve even resulted in wrecks as drivers scrap for each place throughout parts of the race once they would usually conserving their gear, generally pushing the restrict only a bit too far.
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