NASCAR: Does winning a race early change a driver’s season strategy?

Five NASCAR drivers have already punched their tickets to the playoffs. Should winning this early in the season change their season strategy?

The new playoff format in NASCAR almost automatically puts a driver in the playoffs for winning a race. Does winning a race in February or March allow drivers to approach the rest of the regular season differently?

It is still February and there are already five NASCAR drivers who have clinched their spots in their respective playoffs in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series. Meanwhile, each series still has over 20 races remaining on their calendar. If you’re in a playoff drivers shoes, do you approach the remainder of 2018 a little differently?

First off, the Truck Series and Cup Series have had two races and two different winners. In the Truck Series, Johnny Sauter took home the checkered flag in Daytona and Brett Moffitt did so in Atlanta. The Cup Series saw Austin Dillon take the iconic #3 to victory lane in Daytona and Kevin Harvick winning in Atlanta. The Xfinity Series is two races in with Tyler Reddick being the victor in Daytona and Cup Series regular Kevin Harvick winning in Atlanta.

By and large, if I am a race winner, the main questions for the remainder of the season are: Do I approach the remainder of the season differently? Should I focus all of my time and energy on only the remaining races that fall within the playoffs? Or, is my main objective now to gain as many stage wins as possible before the regular season ends?

What I would do…

If I were a race winner in either series at  my main objective would be pretty simple. My main focus would emphasize being strong at playoff tracks and earning as many stage wins as possible. Earning stage wins would be so crucial that I might even consider giving up opportunities to win by staying out late.

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It was pretty obvious during the 2017 season how important stage wins were. Martin Truex Jr. was essentially already in the second round of the playoffs based solely on how much of an advantage he had thanks to stage wins. Truex Jr. won at Chicagoland in the opening race of the round of 16, which punched his ticket to the round of 12. However, with the stage wins he had, he was pretty much already in the second round when the round of 16 started.

My other focus would be on making sure I had good runs at playoff tracks. I would focus hard on every little detail there is to race weekends at those particular tracks. The upcoming race this weekend at Las Vegas would be the first measuring tool I would use for when the three series return to the track in the playoffs in September. The same would go for the other tracks that the series are set to race at in both the regular season and playoffs.

With knowing how drivers think, I know the goal for each current race winner is to win every race. However, the focus, in my opinion, should be more on stage wins and repeat tracks. I, too, understand how important momentum is heading into the playoffs. Fortunately for the drivers who have won already in 2018, there is plenty of time to think about how they want to approach the remainder of the regular season.

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If you were a NASCAR driver who has already won a race this year, what would be your strategy or approach to the remainder of the 2018 season? Would you go about business as usual or focus more time and energy on winning stages and running well at playoff tracks?