Kyle Larson has picked up more stage points than any driver in the first four races of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase. Yet he is the one complaining that stage points are dictating the championship leaderboard in a way he doesn’t seem to like. While the championship leader complains about the impact and implications of stage points, the man whose title count he looks to match is more than happy with how things are.
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Team Penske driver is done with the constant changes being made to the points and playoff system. Logano spoke to Jeff Gluck about his feelings on the stage points, and he is clearly not on board with Larson on the topic.
“We put those there for a reason,” said Logano. “I hate how our sport goes in cycles, and all of a sudden, now we don’t like it again. There was a reason why we put stage points in the race. Because everyone was complaining about running in the top five the whole race, and then you blow up, or you wreck, or something happens, and you finish 30th, and you have nothing to show for your good day.”
“But now you have something to show for your good day,” he added. “That’s why we put it there. And it brought intense moments into the race earlier on, so it made fans more engaged. That’s why we did it. Let’s not lose sight of why we did that so, no. I think it’s what it should be. I like it. I think it’s good. I’d hate to go back on that too, as we’ve gone back on so many things. Really, I think you gotta keep that.”
Stage points were introduced in 2017 because of the very reasons that Logano outlined: for drivers to get something from days where they ran well for parts, and for fans to see more excitement right through the race rather than just wait and see what happens at the end of the race.
Larson thought stage points feel like participation awards in the middle of races that carry too much value. Larson used Ryan Preece as an example to show the detrimental effects of stage points. Preece has finished 10th in three Chase races, aside from a 17th-place finish at Gateway.
Through those finishes, Larson believes that Preece should have been able to make up places on the leaderboard, which hasn’t happened for the RFK Racing No. 60 driver. Preece has a total of eight stage points, four at Darlington and four at Gateway. That averages out to one point per stage.
But Larson, on the other hand, has picked up more stage points than anyone else. Larson picked up nine at Darlington, 18 at Gateway, 11 at Bristol, and a perfect day out in Kansas where he won both stages and picked up 20 points. His total is 58. The average for Larson is close to 15 stage points per race and a little over seven in each stage.
Courtesy stage points, Larson was able to have a maximum points day in Kansas. He picked up 55 points for winning the race, 20 stage points, and also the fastest lap points. That is 76 points from a single race. The ability for someone to do that, while it spells dominance to the cars behind, allows fans to believe that a lower-ranked Chase driver could have a perfect day and then narrow the lead to the title contenders.
Logano is currently 4th, 67 points behind Kyle Larson. Denny Hamlin, who trails the Hendrick Motorsports driver by 26 points, will know the impact of stage points as well. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota driver has picked up 46 stage points. Five at Gateway, eight in Bristol, 17 in Kansas, and a major haul of 16 points at Darlington that helped him turn an 18th-place finish into a 35-point haul.
Had Logano or Hamlin not picked up those points, they would have had a bigger deficit to Larson. And Logano wasn’t the only one opposed to Larson’s thoughts on the stage points. Even Carson Hocevar spoke in favour of keeping the stage points, albeit for different reasons to Logano.
“I think it’s rewarding the guys that are running good all race,” Hocevar said. “I don’t think we need to start tweaking it. I think we need at least two or three years of the data points to see how this format works with the way it is. The more we change them, the more confusing it’s going to be for all of us, and if we’re confused, we’re in the sport. It’s very confusing for the guys that are in the stands and don’t follow NASCAR until it’s on their TV. ”
Larson may be surprised to see Logano and Hocevar on the same side of the debate that he began, but as the biggest beneficiary of the points, there shouldn’t be much he is unhappy about with the way things are shaping up presently.