NASCAR returns to Darlington this weekend for the final race of the Cup Series regular season. The Xfinity Series regular season will conclude next month at Bristol Motor Speedway.
So how does the points system work in NASCAR? Let’s break it down, because, like many things in this sport, it’s both very straightforward and slightly overcomplicated.
(With that being said, there is going to be a lot of talk about points and playoffs for the remainder of the season. If you’d like to learn more about Darlington Raceway specifically, and what it takes to get around this track, you can check out my earlier piece from before the May race.)
How Points Are Awarded In NASCAR
So how does the points system work in NASCAR? Points are awarded three times during a race. Once at the end of each stage and once at the conclusion of the race. You can think of the stages in somewhat the same way as the Sprint races in Formula 1, where a small number of points are awarded to drivers at the front of the field. In NASCAR, the top 10 drivers are awarded points at the conclusion of each stage; 10 points for 1st, 9 points for 2nd on down to 1 point for 10th. The conclusion of the race plays out similarly, except points are awarded to the entire field; 40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, all the way down to 1 point for 36th place or worse.
Additionally, something called playoff points are awarded at the end of both stages and the race. The winner of each stage receives 1 playoff point and the winner of the race receives 5 playoff points. These are special additional points that drivers get to take with them throughout the postseason, which we will get to momentarily.
The Cup Series playoffs consist of 16 drivers and the Xfinity Series playoffs consist of 12 drivers. Any full-time driver who wins a race is automatically guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, with the remaining spots being filled up based on points.
Let’s take a look at the Cup Series playoff cut line. Going into this weekend at Darlington Raceway 13 different drivers have won at least 1 race. That means that there are three spots remaining and they will go to the three highest-ranked drivers in points without a win.
The playoff math becomes trickier for teams and drivers without a win when a driver lower than them in points wins a race, like what happened last Saturday in Daytona. Harrison Burton is ranked last in points, but now has a win. By elevating himself into the playoffs, Burton eliminated one position that would have been awarded based on points, essentially bumping a driver out. In this case, it was Bubba Wallace.
Had Harrison Burton not won the race last week, Wallace would be the last driver in on points and Ross Chastain would be out by only 6 points.
After the conclusion of this Sunday’s Southern 500, the playoff field will be officially set. One final round of playoff points will be awarded based on the final regular season standings. The driver with the highest number of points in the regular season will be awarded 15 playoff points, 10 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd and then decreasing by 1 point per position to award 1 playoff point to the 10th highest driver in the standings.
So how do the playoffs work, and why do these playoff points matter so much? For the Cup and Xfinity Series, the playoffs are made up of three race rounds after which the bottom 4 drivers will be eliminated. A win automatically advances a driver to the next round. What makes this interesting is that the points reset to zero for every round, with the exception of playoff points.
Kyle Larson currently has four race wins, eight stage wins, and is ranked 2nd in overall points. This translates to 38 playoff points, meaning that when the standings reset in each round he will start with 38 points. By contrast, the last driver currently in the playoff is Chris Buescher with 0 race wins, 2 stage wins, and ranked 11th in overall points. That means he will start each round off with only 2 points. The playoff points exist to reward season-long performance and give drivers a boost in each round of the playoffs.
You will often see teams change up their strategy during the regular season after they’ve won a race and secured their spot in the playoffs. On a day when they may only have a 7th place car for example, teams can alter their strategy to go after a stage win and try to collect a playoff point when they know that they aren’t going to have a shot at the overall victory.
Like any sport, a racing season is built up of a million moments that culminate into something much grander. The magic lies in knowing that each of these moments is important when you’re living them, but not knowing how until they’re well into the past. After the checkered flag falls on Sunday evening, we will finally be able to see how all of the trials and tribulations have shaken out for the Cup Series drivers as the regular season ends and the playoffs begin.
Entering the final race of the regular season, there were so many key moments that helped shape the current playoff picture. The second race of the 2024 NASCAR season took place at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in February. The race featured an iconic three-wide finish and is arguably the first of our “season-changing” moments.
Daniel Suarez currently sits 17th in the regular season points standings and had he been mere inches behind at the finish of this race he would currently be sitting 131 points below the cut line. Had second-place driver Ryan Blaney, who currently sits 4th in points won the race there would be an additional playoff berth available to a non-winner, which would put Bubba Wallace into the post-season instead of the first driver out. Third-place finisher Kyle Busch currently sits 106 points below the cut line, and 0.007 seconds would have elevated him into the postseason.
The 12th race of the Cup series season at Kansas Speedway came down to the closest finish in NASCAR history with a margin of 0.001 seconds as Kyle Larson swept past Chris Buescher coming to the checkered flag. Half an inch would have guaranteed Buescher a spot in the playoffs, but currently, he is the last driver advancing to the postseason. His twenty-one-point advantage over Bubba Wallace is modest, but a bad day could see it quickly evaporate, and a new winner would eliminate him automatically.
Buescher appeared to be set for redemption the following week at Darlington Raceway as he led in the closing laps over Tyler Reddick. Reddick had dominated the race, leading over 60% of the laps and did not want to let the victory slip away. In a perhaps ambitious move to retake the lead with ten laps to go, Reddick and Buescher made contact and both drivers suffered a punctured tire. Brad Keselowski won the race while Buescher finished 30th and Reddick 32nd.
When the Cup series visited World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis for the 15th race, it looked as though Ryan Blaney was going to cruise to victory just over a second ahead of his Penske Racing teammate Austin Cindric. Coming back to begin the final lap, Blaney inexplicably ran out of fuel allowing Cindric to steal the victory. Currently, Cindric sits 19th in regular season points and without this win he would be 172 points below the cut line, and Bubba Wallace would be the last driver into the postseason. Half a gallon of fuel in Ryan Blaney’s car is all it took to elevate Cindric from a forgettable season to a playoff contender.
The 19th race of the Cup series season took place at Nashville Superspeedway. With 2 laps to go, Denny Hamlin was cruising to victory with a roughly half-second advantage over Ross Chastain. Contact between Austin Cindric and Noah Gragson for 20th place brought out a caution flag, triggering a record number of overtime attempts. Joey Logano won the race while Denny Hamlin finished eleventh and Ross Chastain finished 33rd. Without this victory, Logano would be sitting 72 points below the playoff cut line. Chastain lost 32 points from where he should have finished and currently sits 27 points outside of the playoffs.
One week later, the NASCAR Cup series found itself racing around the streets of Chicago. The race concluded in mixed conditions after it had rained on and off throughout the event. Alex Bowman and several other drivers elected not to pit, attempting to nurse their wet weather tires to the finish on the quickly drying circuit while the rest of the field chased them down on slick tires. The strategy call proved fortuitous as Bowman was able to hang on and secure his first road course victory. Without this win, Bowman would be sitting 10 points outside of the playoffs.
It’s not just the headline-making wins that change the shape of a driver’s year. The smallest moments matter when you’re sitting there staring at the cut line desperately searching for a few more points.
In the final laps of the 9th race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, Ross Chastain looked poised for a solid Top 5 finish after starting 12th and leading 33 laps during the event. With 15 laps to go, Chastain was running in 4th position when Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun and brought out a caution. The ensuing restart saw another caution, setting up an overtime finish. On the final restart of the day, Chastain lined up on the outside of the front row. He fell into 2nd position until contact with William Byron sent him spinning on the final lap. Chastain was credited with a 32nd place finish for the day. The difference between 2nd and 32nd is 33 points. Again, Chastain currently sits 27 points outside of the playoffs.
The 11th race of the season took place at Dover Motor Speedway. Prior to a green flag pit stop cycle, Bubba Wallace was running in 10th position. A caution flag for Ricky Stenhouse Jr spinning jumbled up the field as not everyone had completed their pit stops at the time of the accident. Wallace was leading, about to make his pit stop, when the caution flag flew. After pitting under yellow he lined up for the restart in 18th position. Contact with Zane Smith sent Wallace spinning off the exit of Turn 2 and ultimately ended his day. Wallace was credited with a 32nd place finish costing him 22 points relative to where he was running prior to the pit cycle. Currently, Wallace is 21 points outside the playoffs.
Sometimes, it’s just about survival. Daytona winner Harrison Burton narrowly avoided being collected up in the big one with 9 laps to go.
The NASCAR season is the longest season in sports, but every race matters, every lap matters and every point matters. Sunday’s running of the Southern 500 will be the culmination of 6 months worth of little moments. Some teams will leave heartbroken, and some will leave relieved to have made it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.
This piece is the reason I stopped watching Nascar. Absolutely despise this stupid playoff system and the stages make it worse imo.
I was a lifelong Nascar fan, I literally started watching when I was a toddler. I hated “The Chase”, but kept watching. “The Chase” became the playoffs, which I liked even less, but I kept watching. Then “stage racing” became a thing, and I just couldn’t anymore. I’ve watched one race in the past five years, and it honestly just reminded me why I, a guy who watched all of the practice, qualifying, racing, new/info shows, hell, even the Dash Series when it was a thing… Just… Can’t bring myself to give a damn about what the sport has become.
As someone who was a long-time NASCAR fan, they lost me with the introduction of the gimmicks and this fake playoff. To be fair, I was also a long-time NHRA Drag Racing fan, and they also lost me when they followed suit and introduced their own fake playoff. In both cases it was unnecessary and tainted the product.
As someone entirely new to NASCAR I’m baffled by this entire system, but it does at least make the scoring system used in drifting seem less arbitrary and silly.
If something doesn’t make sense just drink another can of Busch until it does.
Not a bad strategy
You say, at the end, that every lap, moment, etc… counts, but it always seemed to me (and your examples confirm this) that the current NASCAR points system rewards a moment of good fortune, rather than a season of hard work.
The whole system of stages, and playoffs, and all that, just looks like a way to artificially create tension, thus attracting and retaining the attention of potential viewers. It all just seems so contrived, as if the producer of a reality TV series were writing the rule book.
I used to pay attention to NASCAR, but after the introduction of the whole playoff thing, I now rarely do.
…And, while I’m at it… The whole ‘overtime’ thing has always seemed like a ‘make-work’ program for fabricators and parts suppliers. Sometimes races finish under a yellow flag. That’s just how it is. That’s racing.
My dad and I used to watch NASCAR routinely back in the 2000s to about the 2010s. We just sort of lost interest after awhile, no specific reason.
I can’t imagine trying to bother getting back into it now. Sounds exhausting.
I watched it from the 80s (okay, late 70s, but I was a kid) and I couldn’t agree more. NASCAR became popular because it wasn’t the other sports (that, and the cubic money spent promoting it by Winston). They didn’t gain many long-term fans by trying to pander to the stick-and-ball audience, but they sure lost a lot.
I would counter that argument with how Martin Truex Jr’s evening has gone. He crashed out early but because of the points accumulated throughout the season he will still advance. So a moment of misfortune was balanced out by a season of consistency
Aedan, watching the Cup series right now makes me think I’d love a piece on how you guys handle unorthodox situations that pop up during a race, like what Tyler Reddick’s going through right now. Teams must have a greatest hits collection of the strangest, exogenous-to-the-race stuff that’s happened to them…
Every time you think you’ve seen it all something new finds a way to pop up
More complicated than a Chinese soap opera.
More rigged than a China Clipper
Less interesting than a spinster Chinese Aunt’s 46th birthday party
Sorry, 16 drivers….duh
Though unlikely, is there a provision in the playoffs if more than 15 drivers win a race?
Honestly, I’m not sure but I will look at the rule book and find out
Of all the articles with physics, trigonometry, aerodynamics, a beautiful collage of terrifying equations and common words co-opted by the sciences (“normal force”, hah!), I did not expect an explainer of the NASCAR points system to be the one without them.
To be fair the NASCAR points system sometimes feels like it needs some terrifying equations haha
I feel like the points system is more complex and confusing than any of Aedan’s previous physics articles.
Likely yes
That’s the tortured joke at the nougaty center of my post 🙂 I’m just gonna claim it was intentionally indecipherable to be meta and Homer my way back into the bushes
Hahah. At least the broadcast is kind enough to show live points so you don’t have to do math yourself
I do enjoy the cutline stats box that starts appearing on the broadcasts about 3 races prior to the postseason. The red font is wonderfully ominous.
I’d love to see the statistical analysis NASCAR did before it implemented the playoff format. I’m willing to bet it shows that the average winner (of any segment of the championship) would otherwise be a top contender, even accounting for a surprise at the single-race margin. So the odds of a forced point count victory if non-playoff drivers win the playoff races are pretty low.
If you look on the website racing reference they show the season long points after each race.
The 2023 Champion Ryan Blaney would have finished 6th in overall points. 2022 champion Joey Logano would have finished 3rd
I haven’t caught much NASCAR since the points system was implemented, so help me understand: Drivers who aren’t in the playoffs could conceivably win three races, and not be the champions, or even in the “top 12” because they won after the playoffs started?
Unfortunately yes
If you’re bored with this NASCAR crap over the long weekend, the old site is reposting some great content from back in the glory days of automotive blogging – before people went all Hollywood on us and became sponsored content purveyors for a dealer network.
So obviously you want to win every race, but with a playoff spot guaranteed by a win, do you ever see someone commit to the full send and really go for the win at any cost?
Given the unpredictability you mentioned, and also the fact that a crash can take you out as collateral damage, having a nice, consistent season really isn’t a predictable indicator of a playoff spot.
Yes absolutely. There’s a lot of Hail Mary moments to get that first win
There’s usually 3-5 spots available on points so ranking as high as possible in overall points is a good safety blanket.
I can see how this helps make the races more interesting for fans but it also raises the barrier for entry as a new fan a good bit because it is so convoluted and hard to follow. I normally like this type of thing but I gave up reading half way through, haha, ( no fault of Mr. McHugh).
Yeah no I totally get it lmao. It can be a lot at to get your head around at times especially if you’re just paying attention to your favorite driver and ignoring what someone else’s good or bad day is doing
When it first debuted, I really disliked the playoff system, but I’ll admit I’ve kinda come around to it.
It helps avoid the ’10s Lewis Hamilton situation where someone is so dominant that at a certain point it ceases to be an interesting competition, and as convoluted as it is, it does increase the per-race drama for viewers.
And from a purely emotional pov, I enjoy the oddball Cinderella situations it can generate. I always low-key root for the Wood Brothers b/c of their history, and last week’s Cup race ending was pretty cool, and it wasn’t simply a gimme – Burton really did improbably outdrive a multi-time series champ to win.
Yeah for sure. I feel like they did a nice job of balancing season long consistency with their desire to reward winning and Game 7 type moments
I get how it must feel to plenty of the drivers and their teams, but I’m appreciative (from a fan pov) that NASCAR is attempting to innovate to keep the sport relevant into the future. A race in Mexico next year – how cool is that?
Has NASCAR ever given any thought to simply reducing the season’s length? Or does it feel locked into the current format at this point, unable to reduce it without giving up some of its hard-won geographic balance?
Mexico is going to be a blast I’m stoked for that one.
TV wants more races not less. Live events are the last bastion of cable TV and broadcasters want as many live events as possible to keep people subscribing. If anything I could see more races in the future not less
As an avid college football fan I have to agree, and (IMO) cable’s last grasp for relevancy has ruined the top level of the sport in recent years. I’m very curious how linear TVs eventual death will impact NASCAR. I don’t see it ending well for football, especially how so many programs are overextending themselves on the assumption the TV dollars will keep flowing.