NASCAR Race Mom: Understanding #NASCAR's New Stage Based Point System

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Understanding #NASCAR's New Stage Based Point System

Blake Koch and the LeafFilter Racing Team Struggle by Never Give Up

Darrell Wallace Jr #6 and Daniel Suarez #18 are involved in an on-track incident
as Blake Koch stays low to get by. (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

As Kaulig Racing geared up for the first race of the season in Daytona this weekend, they provided a pretty simple to understand explanation of NASCAR’s new stage based race format.

Each race will be broken down into three different stages, with playoff bonus point opportunities at the end of each stage. Take a look below to get acquainted with NASCAR’s new format quickly.

Understanding #NASCAR's New Stage Based Point System

So how did the #11 of Blake Koch do yesterday?

It appeared to NASCAR Race Mom that the Kaulig Racing #11 Chevy was dialed in pretty well for the Daytona International Speedway NASCAR Xfinity Series opener.

Blake Koch stays low as Matt Tifft #19 and Brandon Hightower #40
become involved in an on-track incident at the end of the NASCAR
XFINITY Series PowerShares QQQ 300 (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Blake drove from the back to the front before the completion of Stage One to finish fifth and collect an important six points for the segment. Koch collected another point at the finish of Stage Two for his tenth place finish.

Blake would have finished much higher in the second segment if not for an on-track incident not of his making. Cup Driver Brad Keselowski bumped the #48 of Brennan Poole and sent him into the outside wall, collecting Blake Koch in the process.

Unbelievable, Koch managed to pilot the now ill handling Xfinity car for the entire second half of the race to a respectable fifteenth place finish. Kudos to the Crew Members who were able to complete repairs to the race vehicle. Blake collected another twenty-two points.

#ICYMI here's @BlakeKochRacing's @NASCAR_XFINITY recap from @DISupdates: https://t.co/byoyof6s1n
— LeafFilter Racing (@LFRacingTeam) February 26, 2017

Now when you do the math:

22 points for race finish

1 point for segment 2

6 points for segment 1

After all the arithmetic - Blake Koch received twenty-nine points in the Powershares QQQ 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series season opener, which was good enough to place him tied for eighth place in the point standings. With his seven stage points, Blake’s fifteenth place finish earned him the same amount of points as eighth place finisher Garrett Smithley who did not have any stage points.

It takes a bit more figuring, but it is not too complicated. Saturday's race demonstrated that it now rewarded those who were skilled and fortunate enough to avoid crashes, as only twenty of forty cars remained on the track at the conclusion of the event.

“I can’t say enough about how hard my Kaulig Racing team worked today,” said Koch. “We never gave up or let ourselves get discouraged despite having to make something close to 12 pit stops during the course of the race. We feel really good about the points we earned today and can’t wait to carry that momentum and drive into Atlanta next weekend.”

The team returns to racing action Saturday, March 4th, 2017 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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