Stage racing started in NASCAR this season.
But NBCSN analyst Jeff Burton believes that is only the first stage of the new approach to counting championship points.
“You’re going to see stage racing in other forms of motorsports,” he said on last week’s episode of the NASCAR on NBC podcast. “Any series that have people racing for championships and points, stage racing is more exciting to watch and more exciting to do and rewards people that run the best the most.”
Burton discussed the origins of stage racing in the podcast. The NASCAR veteran was among the key discussions that led to its implementation, including a large meeting at Las Vegas late last year.
There were many options considered (including heat races) before the new system was announced in January.
“There were some crazy ideas, and many were mine,” Burton said with a laugh, adding that the vetting process had an air of good faith in the greater interests of racing. “It was one of the best things I’ve ever been involved in. The process was right, 100 percent.”
Other topics discussed on the podcast:
--Why the “win and you’re in” concept under the old system actually meant “win and you’re done”;
--Why drivers are never trying as hard as they think they can;
--How stage racing was a good example of how NASCAR could learn from what works in other professional sports while maintaining its differentiation.
You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the AudioBoom embed below or download and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts by clicking here. The free subscription will provide automatic downloads of new episodes to your smartphone.
It also is available on Stitcher by clicking here and also can be found on Google Play, Spotify and a host of other smartphone apps.
https://audioboom.com/posts/5948803-ep-80-jeff-burton-on-stage-racing?t=0
