What are the stage lengths for the Food City 500 at Bristol?
By Nick Tylwalk
Drivers and crew chiefs will have a lot to think about on a rare Monday afternoon race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with stage lengths just one of them.
Races on the speedy half-mile at Bristol Motor Speedway don’t necessarily need any additional intrigue, but the Food City 500 today will have it anyway. A rainy weekend means that not only will the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers line up in order of their owners points, but a green track may mean that all the fuss over the VHT applied to the track might be for naught.
NASCAR has already informed the teams that there will be a competition caution at Lap 60, which is pretty much standard operating procedure at this point any time a track sees as much rain as Bristol has over the past few days. That will come just a few laps short of halfway through Stage 1.
Yes, the Food City 500 is seeing stage racing for the first time, with perhaps more chance than most races of seeing some bumping and banging coming back to the green and white checkered flag. Stage points have definitely mattered during the 2017 season to date, though they’ve done more to keep the top performers out in front than they have to keep guys without a lot of top-10 finishes within striking distance of the playoffs.
Next: Are stage points making the NASCAR Cup Series standings less close?
While Bristol is likely to have more than its fair share of cautions, particularly with the uncertainty related to the weather, the competition caution plus the two stage-ending yellow flag periods mean there will be a minimum of three chances for cars to be worked on without a green flag stop. Courtesy of NASCAR.com, here’s when the stages will end:
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway stage lengths
- Stage 1 ends on Lap 125
- Stage 2 ends on Lap 250
- The final stage ends on Lap 500, barring overtime, for a final stage length of 250 laps