NASCAR announced Monday morning that the May 28 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will have an additional stage.
Stage 1 will end on Lap 100.
Stage 2 will end on Lap 200
Stage 3 will end on Lap 300.
The race is scheduled to end on Lap 400.
The race will be considered official at the end of the second stage.
With the additional stage points available, the maximum number of points a driver could score -- by sweeping all three stages and winning the race -- is 70 points. Winning any of the stages is worth 10 points (and one playoff point) and winning the race is worth 40 points (and five playoff points).
“The stage racing format is delivering more dramatic moments over an entire race, fueling tremendous racing action this season,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, in a statement. “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.”
Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Monday on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he didn’t foresee any changes to the number of stages for any other race the rest of the year.
Martin Truex Jr. won last year’s 600, leading 392 of the race’s 400 laps.
I'm all in on this.
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) May 15, 2017
The coke 600 has always been one of our biggest races and now it has a way to showcase just that to the season points. https://t.co/55WXrD6c6c
