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NASCAR: New Format And Point System Announced For 2017

By Christopher Olmstead

Feb 16, 2016; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; A general view of signage during media day for the 2016 NASCAR season at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 16, 2016; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; A general view of signage during media day for the 2016 NASCAR season at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
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We heard rumblings for weeks that NASCAR was going to make some changes to the format of races and how points were awarded heading into the 2017 season. On Monday, NASCAR confirmed those rumblings when they announced the changes via press conference.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski were on hand for the special announcement which was covered by both NBC Sports and Fox Sports 1. Brian France welcomed Steve O’Donnell to the podium to announce the changes for the upcoming season. O’Donnell spoke about how the format would be implemented across all three of NASCAR’s national series.

How It Will Work

Races will be divided into three stages. At the conclusion of stage one, the top-10 drivers will be awarded points. The top-10 will be awarded points 10-1 based on where they finish and the winner of the stage will earn a point towards the playoffs. After the stage ends pit road will open, pit stops will take place and stage two will begin in the order in which the drivers come off of pit road.

Stage two will take place in the same manner as stage one. When the stage ends the drivers will hit pit road and stage three will start with the running order off of pit road after stage two. The final stage of the race (stage three) will be the run to the finish like in any other race. The race purse and race win will be awarded to the winner of stage three as well as 40 points. The stages will eliminate the bonus points for laps led and most laps led.

The laps and miles in races will not be impacted by the stages. Stage two will now become the marker that NASCAR uses to make a race official. The stage lengths will vary (lap wise) race to race but whatever that lap is, that’s set in stone. So, if the stage is to end on lap 100 and the caution comes out on lap 98, that stage will end under caution.

Playoff Bonus Points

Playoff bonus points will be rewarded for the winners of each stage. Those playoff bonus points will be earned throughout the season and carried over into the playoffs. There are three ways to earn playoff points. The first way is by winning a stage (1 point) and the second way is by winning a race (5 points). The third way is based on where you finish in the regular season standings. The top-10 drivers in the regular season will receive playoff points on a sliding scale from 15 for the regular season champion to one point for the driver who finishes the regular season in 10th place.

Playoff Implications

The overall structure of the playoffs will remain the same. Playoff eligibility will still be based on wins and then points and the number of drivers will still go 16-12-8-4. There will still be four rounds and 10 drivers and wins will still advance a driver into the next round of the playoffs.

One difference will be that the performance bonus will carry through the first three rounds of the Chase. So, the drivers who finished top-10 in the regular season standings, their earned points will be given to them at the start of each playoff round in which they are still eligible. The race win bonus and the stage win bonus, five points and one point respectively, will also carry over into the first three rounds of the playoffs.

In summary, playoff bonus points earned throughout the season will be awarded to drivers still in the playoffs when each new round begins. This means that accumulating points throughout the season will be huge in trying to win a championship at the end of the season.

Also, the term Chase is no more, moving forward the Chase does not exist and NASCAR will officially have playoffs.

Why It Happened

The reason for the change was made clear throughout the press conference. NASCAR drivers, presidents, track owners etc. all kept coming back to the fact that they needed to do something to make every lap pf every race matter. Brad Keselowski noted that moving forward you won’t see drivers win races and hang back for the rest of the season. He also noted that drivers won’t be driving in the back of the pack at tracks like Daytona and Talladega now since being up front throughout the race is huge now.

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