The regular-season finale at Daytona on August 23, 2025, was pure chaos and drama. With weather scrapping qualifying, the grid was set by metric, and playoff hopes hung by a thread. In a wild last-lap charge, Ryan Blaney surged from 13th to win his second race of the year, locking in a crucial playoff spot. Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman barely made it in on points, while bubble drivers went all-in during the frantic draft. Behind the fireworks, a strategic battle quietly unfolded lap after lap, classic Daytona.

With 160 laps and stage lengths that require at least one fuel stop per long segment, superspeedway strategy centers on minimizing time spent stationary. Stage cautions became tactical flashpoints, forcing teams to choose between pitting under yellow, gambling on green-flag runs, or entering fuel-save mode as the field stretched toward the next caution.

In a frontstretch interview after the Coke Zero Sugar 400, Ryan Blaney explained, “I think we kind of just took what was given to us … I went into max fuel save mode to where I could go a little bit earlier than other guys.” Austin Cindric, too, discussed the prevalence of fuel-saving strategies, saying, “A lot of the time, everybody isn’t saving fuel or saving the same amount of fuel or doing the same tactics. A lot of things that are probably really difficult to cover as far as what goes on…” That feeling of frustration bubbled over on social media and in garages, and it found one particular blunt and viral expression from Jeb Burton.

Just hours after the Daytona race, Xfinity Series driver Jeb Burton took to X with a blunt message, “We need to add and extra stage in these races to end this fuel saving cr–.” His post quickly lit up fan and driver circles, echoing frustration over how stage breaks encourage fuel-saving tactics that slow down the action.

Jeb Burton, a full-time Xfinity Series driver with over 190 starts, has two wins at Talladega and a Truck Series victory at Texas. He’s made 34 Cup starts and has limited experience with the Next Gen car. Reacting to the Cup Series finale at Daytona, his comment came after a final stage shaped more by strategy than speed, reigniting debate around stage racing and superspeedway formats.

Stage racing, introduced in 2017, was NASCAR’s response to stagnant viewership, aiming to boost engagement by dividing races into three segments. The format awards points in early stages and provides built-in breaks for strategy, storytelling, and broadcast flow

NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace also observed that stage racing remains divisive, saying, “The stage racing is something that half the people like and half the people hate. If anyone tells you that it’s overwhelmingly the most popular thing. In my opinion, it’s not.” Those tradeoffs, entertainment values versus engineered moments, are exactly what make the format a perennial lightning rod.

Social media lit up after Daytona, with fans split between nostalgia for full-throttle pack racing and acceptance of stage-driven drama. If fuel-saving is the symptom, Jeb Burton’s blunt post may be the catalyst for a broader debate, whether NASCAR should tweak or overhaul the rule that’s shaped its modern era.

NASCAR loyalists sound off on stage breaks after Daytona race

One fan opined, “From start to finish, you should never stop.” Critics have often pointed out that the Next Gen car’s aero and pack behavior have amplified fuel-conservation tactics, with Hendrick Motorsports’ analysis calling it “a fuel conservation contest” at Daytona.

Drivers like Carson Hocevar even mocked the tactic on X in February, writing, “NASCAR really needs to get these packs broken up to stop this nonsense. Back in the early 2000s was some of the best ss racing. I wish we could get back to that point. The packs are broken up a little bit but not too much, drivers could pass and get runs, no fuel saving.” Even fans have been complaining about it for quite a while now.

A fan suggested, “Each stage, if we have them, should be 1/6 distance, 1/2, then the second half is one stage, first stage is a sprint, the third is your more traditional race.” For instance, short sprints force flat-out racing, like Formula 1‘s sprint events, running about one-third of a grand prix specifically to encourage aggressive, no-holds-barred competition.

A mid-race, half-distance segment would then allow teams to puzzle over strategy and pit sequencing without the artificial rhythm of frequent cautions, similar to how some series use a mixed sprint/feature structure to balance spectacle and tactics. It is a format fans on discussion boards have repeatedly proposed as a middle ground between purse print weekends and the existing three-stage setup.

Others quipped in, saying, “No just need to make it not the only way to pass. Xfinity doesn’t do it to this extreme bc they can pass.” Xfinity cars use distinct aero, suspension, and transmission packages that tend to produce less stuck-together pack behavior and more genuine lane-to-lane passing. Some examples may be Parker Kligerman’s (Connor Zilisch’s relief driver) overtime victory at the Wawa 250 in 2025, which showed how cars slice and swap more frequently than one would often see in a Next-Gen Cup pack.

One fan wrote, “Or just get rid of them all together. Well, that and develop a proper stock car instead of a sports car masquerading as one.” Many critics argue that elements of the Next Gen car, such as the diffuser, modular bodywork, sequential gearbox, and single-lug wheels, while intended to modernize the sport and reduce costs, have contributed to handling and aero characteristics more typical of purpose-built sports cars. These changes remain a point of debate among engineers and fans alike.

When NASCAR’s earlier COT cars carried a radical wing and radical aero treatments, fans and drivers complained that it looked and raced unlike a stock car, prompting NASCAR to revert to a traditional spoiler after heavy pushback. But the Next Gen has created even more problems.

Others suggested, “or just remove stage cautions or I have a better idea: Halfway bonus in each race but no caution for it.” Some have noted that long, uninterrupted green-flag runs have produced some of the sport’s most memorable fuel-strategy finishes, including the 2003 Daytona 400’s long green stretch deciding the winner when fuel ran out.

So, a halfway bonus could preserve a midrace incentive while keeping the green-flag racing instinct. Others also float similar fixes, from scrapping stage cautions to awarding midrace cash-point bonuses without a yellow, arguing that those changes would remove the “manufactured caution” stigma while still rewarding midrace aggression.

In the end, whether it’s bonus points, altered stages, or no cautions at all, the push for a more natural flow of competition is growing louder.