Kyle Larson sees stage points as little more than “participation awards,” while Joey Logano believes they serve an important purpose by rewarding drivers who run well before the checkered flag. Their opposing views have opened up a familiar NASCAR debate: should championship points reflect the entire race or only the final result? Kevin Harvick has now weighed in, and the former champion is leaning toward Larson’s traditionalist argument. But Harvick also believes NASCAR can keep the stage breaks that created more action without continuing to hand out points in the middle of the race.

“Now, if your car falls apart, you don’t get a penalty. It’s just like saying at the football game, if you’re leading at halftime, should you get an extra seven points? What would happen? What would happen if you said at a football Why is it different? Well, let’s just say you get to the end of the first quarter. Well, the Panthers are leading the game. They should get an extra two points. I think we should just have stage breaks. Like no points,” Harvick shared his views on stage points on the recent episode of the Happy Hour podcast.

Harvick’s football comparison gets to the heart of his objection. He is not necessarily arguing that NASCAR should abandon everything stage racing brought to the sport. Instead, the former Cup champion believes the points system should reward the completed race rather than giving championship credit for where a driver stands during it.

If NASCAR still wants the cautions, resets, and strategic moments created by stage breaks, Harvick’s solution is simple: keep the breaks, but remove the points. That position fits with Harvick’s broader belief that NASCAR has been moving back toward traditional racing. He admitted that he understands why stage racing was introduced in the first place, particularly because the sport wanted more cautions and natural breaks in long races.

But after watching NASCAR reconsider several elements of its competition format, Harvick believes stage points have become another piece that could be simplified. The 2026 Chase has provided plenty of ammunition for that argument.

Denny Hamlin’s opening stretch is one example. After struggling to produce a strong finishing result at Darlington (18th), Hamlin still collected valuable stage points (16) that helped keep him near the front of the championship standings. Christopher Bell provided another example at Las Vegas. Power-steering problems left him 23rd at the finish, but stage points (17) earned earlier in the race softened the damage to his championship effort.

That is exactly where Harvick’s philosophy differs from the logic behind stage points. To him, a driver who finishes 23rd should receive the points associated with finishing 23rd. The fact that the same driver was running near the front earlier in the afternoon is part of the race, but it should not change the final championship reward.

The garage, however, has generally shown that it is not opposed to stage breaks themselves. NASCAR’s recent changes to the stage-break procedure received support from several drivers. Denny Hamlin welcomed the prospect of more green-flag racing, while Chase Elliott viewed the change as a logical way to create better racing without unnecessary interruptions.

Carson Hocevar also saw potential in the new system because it could create more unpredictable strategy and allow teams to take greater risks. Shane van Gisbergen offered perhaps the simplest explanation. He argued that NASCAR spends too much time under yellow and that more green-flag laps are better for everyone.

That distinction matters because Harvick’s proposal does not necessarily require NASCAR to throw away the entertainment value of stages. He can see the benefit of creating a defined moment during a long race while still questioning why that moment should carry championship points.

Stage points were introduced in 2017 for precisely that reason. NASCAR wanted drivers to race harder throughout the event rather than simply saving everything for the final laps. The top 10 at the end of the first two stages received points, while stage victories also became part of the championship incentive structure. The system was designed to create more urgency during races and give fans meaningful moments before the checkered flag.

But nearly a decade later, Harvick believes NASCAR has enough evidence to reconsider whether the points need to remain. His concern is not simply that the system is complicated. It is that the points can sometimes tell a different story from the finishing order, forcing fans to ask why a driver who finished behind another competitor received more championship credit.

For Harvick, that should not require a complicated explanation. Keep the stage breaks if they make the racing better. Let the teams strategize around them. Let the fans enjoy the extra tension. But when the race is over, the finish should be what matters.