For the most part, NASCAR Cup Series drivers see the rule changes made to stage racing this week as a matter of common sense.
There wasn’t a lot of pushback.
“In my mind, it’s leaning back in the direction of a natural race progression,” said 2020 champion Chase Elliott. “I know the stages are still there but it feels less fabricated than knowing you’re going to have that on an exact, specific lap. At least it’s in a little bit of a window, and I don’t see anything bad.”
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If there is a caution inside of the final 10 laps of a stage, that caution will immediately end the stage. Stage points will be paid out and NASCAR will work to immediately open pit road. In other words, there will no longer be scenarios where NASCAR has to keep the field under caution to reach the scheduled stage break before doing all the aforementioned procedures.
This decision was made in the aftermath of the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where each of the first two stages had a caution within the closing laps. In the first stage, NASCAR ran a one-lap shootout and then right back to caution for the stage break. In the second stage, NASCAR extended the caution to reach the scheduled stage break.
“I’m not sure what the intention was other than maybe not having two cautions back-to-back from an overall race time, but it seems logical,” Elliott said. “If you’re going to have a caution with a handful of laps to a stage and then having to stop again and doing the whole pit procedure again and opening it up for lead-lap cars and then lap-down cars, all of that ends up being lengthy. I think it could also open up some potential strategy options.”
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This makes those scenarios a thing of the past and Carson Hocevar appreciated NASCAR borrowing from the grassroots when coming up with the policy.
“It’s similar to short-track Late Model racing,” said Hocevar. “I like it and I think it will probably change the game soon and allow for crew chiefs to make mistakes or flip the field if you catch people off guard. Ultimately, just not make the race as predictable.”
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Tyler Reddick and William Byron offered the only skepticism, purely from a competitor standpoint, while also acknowledging this is better for fans.
“I feel like a lot of these stage lengths, people go long or pit short and I just wonder what that does to the strategy,” Reddick said. “If you go to your optimal number and run long in a stage and you’re coming on tires and have that caution with 10 laps to go, it’ll make going to optimal (lap) a lot worse.
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“So, my biggest concern, I guess, if I had one — it hurt some of the strategy plays that happen, I guess more so on stage two. Stage one, sometimes lengths aren’t quite long enough, but like on the intermediate tracks, what does it do to the strategy that shapes who is at the front for stage three?”
In other words, it’s a variable that crew chiefs and war rooms can’t map out, but Reddick also acknowledged that such randomness is also more interesting for those watching at home.
“It should be better for fans, especially from a caution window,” Reddick said. “We shouldn’t be riding around under caution for 20-plus minutes so that’s a positive.
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“There are just question marks that we won’t know the answer to it until it happens a certain way in the race, right? How does this affect what happens to strategy decisions. We just don’t know that yet.
“There’s a lot of ways it could play out right but I just wonder how the strategy will change now.”
That’s what Byron said too.
“Those guys plan all week planning what the fuel strategy is going to be based on how long the stage caution is going to be,” Byron added. “You will have a change on that on the strategy side, so I’m sure the crew chiefs aren’t as happy about it, but I don’t really care. For us drivers, say you’re leading the stage with 10 to go, caution comes out, you will feel a sigh of relief that you’re going to win the stage and you don’t have to do that one-lap shootout and fight it out.”
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But beyond that, everyone was on board with what NASCAR has done.
“Two thumbs up,” said Ryan Blaney.
Kyle Larson even endorsed having strategy decisions turned upside down.
“Strategy’s cool – and I think strategy is awesome when it gets changed on you in an instant,” Larson said. “It’s like whatever teams can adapt to it the quickest can have a good race and get off-strategy. It may open more opportunities at times. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
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Larson hated the lengthy yellows.
“I think it’s good because, dude, it sucks for all of us when we’re out there and we get a caution with five to go until the end of the stage, and they are going to try to do a one-lap shootout,” he said.
Blaney absolutely hated that too.
“Sitting behind the wheel of the thing when the caution does come out with four or five laps before the end of the stage, you know you’re not going to restart it, and you ride around for double the time — that’s no fun for anybody,” Blaney said. “That’s no fun for anybody watching, not fun for us either, sitting around and cruising around for extra laps and taking time up.”
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And that’s what Denny Hamlin said was the reason they did it.
“Certainly, if you want more green-flag racing, this will give you that.”
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