If NASCAR was going to do any in-season experimentation with the new stage format, its longest race is the place to do it.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series fans have had several months to get used to the idea that every race now has three stages. For the Coca-Cola 600, though, they’ll have to adjust that thinking and prepare for a fourth.
NASCAR announced today that it was adding a fourth stage to the Coca-Cola 600, which will take place Sunday night, May 28 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Not only will it be the first Cup Series race with four stages, it will also be the first where all of them are the same length: 100 laps apiece or 150 miles.
Interestingly, that also will make the final stage of the Coca-Cola 600 one of the shortest in terms of distance. Generally speaking, the three stages of most 2017 races tended to split them into roughly quarter, quarter and half-sized chunks.
“The stage racing format is delivering more dramatic moments over an entire race, fueling tremendous racing action this season,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said in a press release. “With a fourth stage added to the Coca-Cola 600, the historic event will have another layer of strategy for teams, and even more excitement within the race for fans.”
The fourth stage also means there will be more points up for grabs than in any other race, as well as an “extra” bonus playoff point for the driver who wins Stage 3. A perfect day in the Coca-Cola 600, which would entail winning the first three stage and then the race itself, would be worth 70 points in the standings plus three playoff points. However the length of the race works against that happening, to say the least.
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The Coca-Cola 600 will air live on Fox, with coverage set to begin at 6 p.m. Eastern on May 28.