Fuel saving was a practice almost completely foreign to drafting tracks for the Gen 6 car and its predecessors, but it has shockingly become an every-race occurrence at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway with the current NASCAR Cup Series car.
Economy runs may inflate lead change counts and create aesthetically pleasing three-wide packs of cars, but the packs are visibly slow and the antithesis of the style of racing that fans know and love at Daytona and Talladega.
NASCAR, to its credit, recognizes the problem, and that is precisely why it has adjusted the stage lengths for this Sunday’s (April 26) Cup race at Talladega.
Last year, the first two stages were 60 laps each, followed by a 68-lap conclusion to the 188-lap race. This weekend will feature a 98-lap stage one, followed by a 45-lap second stage and a 45-lap final stage.
The reason behind the change is that with a 45-lap run, the teams are no longer required to make a green-flag pit stop in the final two stages. The final 90 laps, in theory, should feature the teams running full throttle as they will have enough fuel to reach the end of stage two on lap 143 and the checkered flag on lap 188 without needing to pit or save during green-flag action. They just need one tank of fuel before the start of stage two and one tank of fuel before the start of stage three to go the distance.
But make no mistake, the adjusted stage lengths won’t stop fuel saving toward the end of the race. It will just change the strategy of the teams that do it.
Why these changes will ultimately fail is because NASCAR assumes that the teams will act in good faith and pack the cars with enough fuel under the stage cautions to run at least 45 laps.
But the teams aren’t going to pack their cars with at least 45 laps’ worth of fuel. They’re going to pack them with less.
Why? Because track position is king.
We’ve seen the racing at Daytona and Talladega when cars are going full throttle. The racing typically consists of two freight trains of cars that are stuck pushing the car in front of them, and that is especially true at Talladega, where car handling is less of a factor than it is at Daytona.
In these races, especially toward the end, there is no better place to be than at the front, which means teams will take less fuel than required if it gives them an advantageous track position. If they don’t have enough fuel to make it to the stage end or the finish, all they need to do is blockade the track and slow the pace down enough until that equation changes.
With the final pit stops now taking place under caution instead of under green, there is even more pressure for the teams to take as little time as possible on pit road. A slow pit stop that costs two or three spots during a round of green-flag pit stops could instead cost a team 10 or more spots under caution, and that only leads to a situation where the teams play a bigger game of chicken with fuel in order to keep their track position.
If the race goes to overtime, all the teams that packed the bare minimum or less than that in the tank will really be in trouble.
During a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell revealed that NASCAR was considering a 2027 rule mandating a four-tire change for all refueling pit stops at Daytona and Talladega.
That rule, if implemented, would effectively eliminate the fuel saving problem, as a four-tire stop would force the teams in most circumstances to take enough fuel to the point that saving would no longer be necessary.
At the same time, a four-tire pit stop requirement would be detrimental to teams with slow pit crews. The small, low-budget teams that rely on Daytona and Talladega for results, publicity and sponsorship would also bear the brunt of such a change. And with the draft serving as the great equalizer, would the change truly be beneficial if it removes the potential for underdogs to compete?
Without improvements to the Next Gen car that give the drivers more ability to move around, make passes and develop significant runs, mandatory four-tire stops might be the only way to solve the current fuel saving problem, and that’s because NASCAR’s stage changes for this weekend, while clever, will be exploited by the teams once again.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
Interesting stuff. Since it’s all but a given NASCAR won’t abandon pack racing, the four tire rule does make some sense. I don’t like the thought of removing even more strategy, but I can’t think of any other way around it.
With pack racing, removing stage cautions would only make the problem worse, where I think it would improve the racing on every other track.