Editor’s Note: These off the cuff reactions have not been entirely well thought-out, and are essentially immediate reactions to the news that NASCAR shared today.
It really is out with the old and in with the new.
As NASCAR sees a wave of promising, fresh talent entering the ranks of its top series, the organization dropped a major bombshell today in announcing an entirely new racing format for the 2017 Monster Energy Cup season.
All races will now consist of three stages (25%, 25%, and 50% in length, respectively, of the total race distance) with specific points being awarded at the conclusion of each. The winners of the first two segments will receive one playoff point as well as ten championship points, while the drivers finishing between 2nd through 10th will receive nine, eight, seven, etc. championship points.
In the final (and longest) stage, drivers will compete for the title of race winner with five playoff points and forty championship points on the line for getting to victory lane–as well as, essentially, a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. The driver who finishes 2nd will receive thirty-five championship points, and so on and so forth until you get down to the 36th through 40th finishers, who will all receive one championship point.
Drivers will now be encouraged and rewarded for racing hard during all points of a race, as well as the entire regular season. Possibly the most noteworthy in all of this, however, is the fact that the playoff points earned during the regular season will now be carry forward through the first three rounds of the playoffs.
For example, under this new format, Brad Keselowski, who won four times in the regular season last year, would have had at least twenty playoff points to use a cushion in the first three rounds to try and secure his spot at Homestead in 2016. It will probably now take multiple bad races in one playoff round for a driver in that position to not make the Championship Race at Homestead instead of just one bad outing.
The end of in-season testing?
The previous format of NASCAR’s Chase (which, by the way, is no longer the title, as it is now just considered the playoffs) allowed a driver who won early in the year–and locked themselves into the Chase–to experiment at some of the tracks during the regular season, and why not? After all, it’d be better to have an advantage when it mattered: in the final ten races.
Under NASCAR’s new format, however, drivers and teams are now more than ever discouraged from possibly using races as a “throwaway” to try and find some kind of advantage for later with an experimental set in their race cars.
Last year we saw Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team have one of the worst stretches of finishes we’ve seen from them; in the fifteen races from mid-April to mid-August, Johnson had just three top 10 finishes while posting ten results outside of the top 15 completely. Once things started to really matter, though (the start of the Chase), the #48 team was back to its normal self and, as you probably remember, ended up taking home the championship in November.
In 2017, the drivers that consistently run (and finish) up front will be in the best position at the end of the season to possibly take home the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup trophy. But not only that, it should increase the competition for every single race this season, and bring back some of the excitement that this sport has been missing for quite a while now.
NASCAR may have finally got something right.
It’s easy to harp on NASCAR for the shortcomings and flawed plans we have seen over the past decade. However, when you look at this entire new format they have introduced, you can tell that the organization has put a lot of time into trying to really better the sport. And for the first time in a while, it looks like they may have finally hit a home run–after, sadly, having quite a few swing and misses lately.
The new “stage” format of Cup races should decrease the amount of drivers simply “waiting it out” and/or logging laps until the second half of the race. While it is impossible to completely eradicate that strategy of some drivers, the awarding of playoff points now gives the top ten to fifteen drivers of each segment a reason to race harder in the earlier parts of the race while also throwing in the possibility of more strategy and gamble calls to try and take a stage win.
Additionally, and as mentioned before, the fact that playoff points are carried through the first three rounds of the playoffs puts an even higher emphasis on winning. The awarding of a single playoff point for winning a race stage is quite a small reward, but at the same time, it is absolutely necessary. One of the worst things about previous NASCAR point systems was the fact that a car could be absolutely dominant for 95% of the race and then blow a tire on the final lap and only have a bad finish (and minimal points) to show for it. Those days aren’t entirely gone, but it’s a step in the right direction.
With all that being said, NASCAR’s decision today really shifted even more championship potential to the top teams in the series. They are awarding drivers even more for not only being consistent but also running up front, and with the playoff points carrying through the first nine races of the postseason, it will be incredibly difficult for someone like Kevin Harvick or Jimmie Johnson to not make it to Homestead. Yes, all it takes is a win to automatically advance to the next round of the playoffs, but it’s still going to be harder for a driver like Kyle Larson to get hot at the right time and end up being crowned the Monster Energy Cup champion. But that’s what a true champion is all about, right? One who performs well over the course of the whole year, not just a few races.
How Will This Affect Fantasy NASCAR?
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the Fantasy NASCAR world reacts to today’s news. As far as the leagues that are offered here on Fantasy Racing Online, I will say that I am leaning toward definitely implementing additional fantasy points based off of the stage concept. I’m not quite as sure with the other games, and I welcome your feedback in the comment section below in regards to all of that.
When it comes to handicapping and actually picking drivers on a week-by-week basis, I personally love this new format by NASCAR. One of the hardest things that I personally struggled with over the last couple of years was whether or not a driver was actually going out there to run hard in the regular season after already being locked into the Chase. These wholesale changes by NASCAR should give us a clearer glimpse into what to expect on race day, and I couldn’t be more excited about that.
I think you hit the nail on the head. This change “should” make the drivers work all season long to earn as many points as possible that goes toward the Chase. I also think changing the game to mirror how NASCAR awards points is a good idea. Should have players thinking along the same lines of how the teams have to think. I forsee changing my Fantasy Game to mirror the system NASCAR is going to also. It gets hard trying to figure out how to pick drivers when the “game” and NASCAR itself goes off in two different directions.
Seems like this new format will make racing INTERESTING to watch all race long.
What are pro’s and con’s of mimicking nascar scoring, but use car #’s, not drivers?
Ray, do you mean for The Showcase?
Looks interesting. Means more work for the Fantasy Administrators. Also, no points for leading a lap or the most laps. Kudos to NASCAR!
As Scott her pointed out, no points for laps led. How will that effect scoring here for the contests? will NASCAR even list lap leaders for the races now since it’s irrelevant?
Good question. I’m sure they will still list the lap leaders and number of laps led. And as far as the contests here, I am not going to remove those points.
How about go back to points championship without all the other gimmicks. Has not helped ratings and just turned off old school viewers. Glad I don’t have to figure out how to keep track of it all. Hats off to Jordan for sorting it out.
Maybe for the younger eco-friendly bunch they could race Prius’s and have a pit stop to charge batteries while they sip Lattes and eat Kale salads.
2 other questions I would like answers to …
Did Monster Energy know about these changes before becoming Series Sponsor?
Did Carl Edwards know these changes & did this play a role in his decision? ( I personally think Jr’s concussion played a role in this, especially with Carl’s wife’s background )
Yes, I think Monster Energy was a driving force. They wanted some major changes, and NASCAR probably saw it as a great opportunity to implement them with a new race/points system.
I agree with you on Carl–I personally think it was Junior’s concussion, and I’m still wondering whether or not Carl himself got a concussion at Homestead. That was a vicious hit. I know he said he didn’t but at the same time he did hint at a political run in his future…
Hello gang,Im liking the new system should be interesting on how it plays out this 2017 race season,on the FANTASY level and the CUP(or none fantasy) level.So ,Captain,lap or laps lead are not a plus when it comes to NASCAR,@ the CUP level,but like stated in the SHOWCASE rules & scoring it is still a plus,”Drivers will earn 0.25 fantasy points per lap(s) led in the race”.Game on ,great job Captain! ;~)>