NASCAR makes a bizarre mid-season rule change nobody asked for

NASCAR has historically found ways to further complicate certain issues with various "solutions", rather than simply implementing solutions that would solve those very issues. The whole Championship 4 era of the playoffs has been, for many years, Exhibit A for NASCAR fans to point to.

That has proven true yet again this week, with a modification to the stage break procedure set to be implemented for the remainder of the 2026 season, beginning this weekend at Iowa Speedway.

Since stage racing was introduced in 2017, NASCAR has set predetermined laps for caution periods to conclude the first and second stages (and third stage, in the case of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway).

In some cases, a natural caution would occur before the conclusion of the stage and effectively serve as the stage caution, and points would still be awarded to the top 10 drivers.

But now if a caution occurs with 10 or fewer laps left in a stage, the stage is over, and NASCAR is set to award stage points (still to the top 10 drivers) based on the running order at that time. When the race eventually resumes, the resumption is set to mark the beginning of the next stage, even if that resumption occurs before the previous stage would have ended.

NASCAR is ignoring two of the easiest solutions possible

The one positive to this is the fact that total caution time should technically be less over the long haul. Let's say that a stage is supposed to end on lap 50 and a caution happens on lap 43. Rather than go green on lap 48 for another three laps, only to see a planned stage caution needlessly take up another 10 minutes immediately afterward, NASCAR is simply set to begin stage two.

That is indeed a win, and it was generally pretty well-received.

But there's still that one big elephant in the room, and it's been trotting around the room for the past 10 years now.

How else could total caution time be reduced? It's not rocket science.

If we're serious about reducing downtime, a much simpler solution would be to eliminate stage breaks altogether. If a caution happens to occur when a stage ends, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. Either way, points are still awarded at a predetermined lap, just as they've been each stage since 2017.

An even simpler solution would be to eliminate stage racing and stage points altogether. Should the 22nd place finisher really have the ability to outscore the race runner-up simply by running well at various points in the middle of the race?

Should running well at some random lap in a mid-March race really have the ability to send you to the playoffs come September?

Of course, that's all subjective, but at the end of the day, neither one really makes sense in the grand scheme of things.

Under the new rule, nobody knows when the stage is going to end and when points are going to be awarded. Sure, you never know when a caution flag is going to fly anyway; that's a part of racing, and that's a part of strategy.

But awarding points on a lap TBD? It almost seems like the World Cup, where nobody knows how much time is left except the referees.

And what happens if a teammate brings out a convenient yellow as the leader is attempting to save fuel with 10 laps to go in a stage, especially in a playoff race?

Let's not forget that even during the Championship 4 era, stage points were not factored into the mix for the Championship 4 driver. Hmm... wonder why?

If the excuse for stage racing is really so that NASCAR's broadcast partners have built-in time for commercial breaks during stage breaks, then there really is no excuse. Yes, fans are going to complain about commercials regardless (they do now anyway), but this isn't baseball or football with set stoppages; at least it shouldn't be. Cautions should simply come when cautions come.

NASCAR has tried messing with stages before, to no avail

NASCAR has made adjustments to stage breaks before, notably removing stage cautions on road course races in 2023, while still awarding stage points.

But that change was short-lived, with stage cautions returning for the 2023 playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval after the two races at Watkins Glen International and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course produced only two cautions.

The current change will notably not have an effect on road course races in 2026, since there are only oval races remaining on this year's calendar. Not since 2017 has an entire 10-race playoff calendar featured exclusively ovals.

How the change will eventually be addressed on road courses remains to be seen. Quite frankly, it remains to be seen if this change will even last for the oval races as well. It doesn't feel like a change that NASCAR would revert nearly as quickly, but it also doesn't feel like a true fix to an issue that has been front and center for nearly a decade.

Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 is set to be shown live on USA Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from Iowa Speedway!

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