New Nascar Scoring Method For 2017
The powers that be at Nascar have modified their race scoring for the 2017 season, pushing us further from the ‘good old days’ of the sport where you didn’t need a math degree to figure out the standings. Let’s took a look at what has changed.
Races will now be broken up into 3 pre-defined segments with the first 2 segments scoring the same way. Each of the top 10 finishers in a segment will earn points basically the same way as our Top X scoring, with the leader at the end of the segment earning 10 points, 2nd earning 9, down to 10th place earning a single bonus point. The final segment, otherwise known as the end of the race will be scored with 40 points for the winner, then 35 for 2nd, down to 2 for 35th, with 36th to 40th getting 1 point each. There are no longer bonus points for leading a lap, nor leading the most laps. Ultimately, a driver could earn 60 points by leading both segments and winning the race, down to 1 point for finishing last, and not being in the top 10 in either of the first 2 segments.
The Duels at Daytona are now worth Championship points as well for the top 10 finishers (basically they count as a race segment, minus the playoff bonus). At this time, we have no plans to include these, as most pools are still filling up while these races have already been completed.
The winner of each early race segment gets 1 bonus point for the playoffs, with the race winner earning 5 playoff bonus points. The regular season leader will get 15 playoff points with the rest of the top 10 getting playoff points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale. These playoff bonus points will carry through the first 3 rounds of the Chase, with the final race being top-finishing driver remaining taking the title. After the first two playoff stages, the leaders will also be awarded points on a descending scale for their standing up to that point, beginning at 10 points for the leader.
Are you confused yet?
This scoring modification should ensure stretches of aggressive racing earlier in the race, as drivers jockey for segment bonus points. On the other hand, I think we’ll see several more wrecked race cars as a result, with teams pushing for these points. I do like that playoff points are going to be awarded for leading these segments, as teams with wins earlier in the season may have more incentive to still be aggressive and go after points that will help them win a championship.
Here at Nascar Pools Online, we only really care about the in-race portions of the scoring, and aren’t much concerned regarding the playoff bonuses. As a result of the announced changes, the Nascar Standard method of scoring will now accommodate the segment points, and the removal of the laps led and win bonuses. To appease those leagues that would prefer to stick with the way things were, we’ve added the Old Standard method, which will mirror the 2016 scoring. If you have any questions or thoughts on the change, feel free to leave a comment, or contact us.