NASCAR announces stage lengths for spring, fall races at Kansas Speedway

NASCAR announced lap lengths Thursday for its newly created stages that will be used during the 2017 season, including the spring and fall Monster Energy Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway.

The first two stages during both the Go Bowling 400 on May 13 and the Hollywood Casino 400 on Oct. 22 will be 80 laps.

That leaves 107 laps for the final stage in the 267-lap races at the 1.5-mile tri-oval in Kansas City, Kan.

Late last month, NASCAR announced wholesale changes to its racing and points structure for the upcoming season, which begins Feb. 26 with the Daytona 500.

Each race on NASCAR’s three national touring series, including the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Trucks Series, will be divided into three stages.

The lengths of those stages will vary depending on the track and the length of each race.

Championship points, which are used to determine the regular-season championship and as a tiebreaker to set the playoff field, will be awarded to the top-10 finishers at the conclusion of each of the first two stages using a descending 10-point scale.

The stage winner also will receive a playoff point, which will carry through the first three rounds of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, formerly known as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

The changes were implemented in hopes of increasing urgency, emphasizing aggressive racing and creating more nuanced strategy throughout the race by creating layered points incentives.

During previous seasons, point accumulation was based primarily on final results. Bonus championship points for winning the pole, leading a lap and leading the most laps were eliminated.

Races winners will receive 40 championship points and five playoff points, while second place through 35th will be awarded championship points on a descending 35-to-2 scale. The bottom five finishers each race receive one point.

The top 10 finishers in championships points also will receive playoff points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.

Playoff points will be added to reset point totals for the 16 playoffs qualifiers, but bonus points will not be used in the Championship 4 finale Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

During the Camping World Trucks Series’ Toyota Tundra 250 on May 12 at Kansas Speedway, the first two stages will be 40 laps each in the 167-lap race.

The Xfinity Series’ Kansas Lottery 300 on Oct. 21 will feature 45 laps for the first two stages in the 200-lap race.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 2:58 PM with the headline "NASCAR announces stage lengths for spring, fall races at Kansas Speedway."