Nascar point System
Championship points system For the Nextel NASCAR series
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| 1st | 185 |
| 2nd | 170 |
| 3rd | 165 |
| 4th | 160 |
| 5th | 155 |
| 6th | 150 |
| 7th | 146 |
| 8th | 142 |
| 9th | 138 |
| 10th | 134 |
| 11th | 130 |
| 12th | 127 |
| 13th | 124 |
| 14th | 121 |
| 15th | 118 |
| 16th | 115 |
| 17th | 112 |
| 18th | 109 |
| 19th | 106 |
| 20th | 103 |
| 21st | 100 |
| 22nd | 97 |
| 23rd | 94 |
| 24th | 91 |
| 25th | 88 |
| 26th | 85 |
| 27th | 82 |
| 28th | 79 |
| 29th | 76 |
| 30th | 73 |
| 31st | 70 |
| 32nd | 67 |
| 33rd | 64 |
| 34th | 61 |
| 35th | 58 |
| 36th | 55 |
| 37th | 52 |
| 38th | 49 |
| 39th | 46 |
| 40th | 43 |
| 41st | 40 |
| 42nd | 37 |
| 43rd | 34 |
For all NASCAR series Championships, driver points are given out for each race based on two categories: Final Position, and Laps Led.
For points according to position, there are three different scales. First Place gets 185 points, with fifteen points separating first from second. It is impossible to win a race without leading a lap, so the minimum for a winner to receive is 190 points. After second place (170 points), the first scale starts, with five points separating second through sixth place. After sixth place the second scale starts, separating drivers by four points for positions seven through eleven. After that, the third scale is in effect, separating the rest of the field by three points (see chart on left). This is why cars will sometimes go back on track after a wreck, even if they have no chance of winning. By moving up three positions, they gain nine more points.
For points according to laps led, if a driver has led at least one lap in the race, they are awarded an extra 5 points on top of what they earned based on position. In addition, the driver who leads the most laps earns an additional 5 points, for a maximum of 10 points. Lap leadership is determined at the finish line on each lap. A driver cannot simply lead part of a lap on the back stretch; the driver must be the first across the line to be considered the leader for that lap, or is declared the leader by crossing the last scoring loop as the leader when a caution is signaled.
Drivers’ points are assigned to the driver who starts the race. It is legal (though rare) to change drivers during a race (usually due to injury or fatigue), but the replacement driver gets no points. WhenMartin Truex jr.replaced Dale Earnhardt Jr. during a 2004 Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway (while Earnhardt was recovering from an injury), the points counted towards Earnhardt's total. The same incident occurred when Ricky Rudd, a driver who was "retired" since the end of the 2005 season, replaced Tony Stewart at Dover International Speedway while Stewart was tending to a broken shoulder at the2006 Neighborhood Excellence 400.
Points are also given to the owner of a car. For a car that makes the field, the owner points are the same as the driver points for that race. Cars that fail to qualify for a race gain owner points based on how well they qualified, continuing the 3 points per position so that the 44th car in qualifying gets 31 points, the 45th gets 28 points, and so forth, to a minimum of one point below 54th.
Since 2005, the top teams in owner points (35 in Nextel Cup, 30 in Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series, must be full time teams) earn an exemption into the starting field. If weather conditions prevent qualifying from occurring, the starting order for the race is set using owner points (top 35/30), then former series champions, then the defending race winner, then current year race winners, and then by most qualifying attempts with owner points breaking ties. For the first five races in each year, the owner points from last year are used instead. This can affect the strategy of new or lower ranked teams.
For example, Hall Of Fame Racing had Terry LaBonte in their #96 car in the first five Nextel Cup races in 2006. As a former champion, Terry Labonte was entitled to start in each race, even if the car encountered a difficulty in qualifying. With five guaranteed starts, the #96 car was easily able to gain enough owner points to place it in the top 35 and thus give regular driverTony Raines a guaranteed starting spot in each race when he took over for the rest of the year. Lower ranked teams sometimes use aroad racing specialist when the race is one of the few each year held on a road course to maximize the owner points of the car.
NASCAR points system development
From the beginning of championship series until 1967 championship points were based on prize money purses. Races with lesser purses paid fewer points than races with bigger purses.
First,the NASCAR point system used for championship from 1949 till 1951 awarded points on basis 10 points for the 1st place, 9 pts for 2nd, 8 pts for 3rd and so on, multiplied by 0.05*race purse (Race worth $4000 paid 200 points to the winner, 180 for 2nd place...). No info about how many points were given to drivers finishing below 10th place.
From 1952 till 1967, the NASCAR point system was based on linear scale for first 25 positions: 25-24-23-... Coefficients changed, but were always depending on prize money. From 25th place down there were awarded the same number of points.
In 1968, NASCAR started to award points depending on race distance, not prize money. Point system was 50-49-48-... multiplied by 1 for events to 249 miles, 2 for events 250-399 miles and 3 for events 400 miles and more. System stopped from 50th place. This system was in use until the end of 1971 season.
In 1972, together with shortening the schedule, the point system was also modified. Basic points of 100-98-96-... were awarded for each race. Additionally, lap points were awarded for the number of laps completed. Tracks under 1 mile, 0.25 points a lap; 1-mile tracks, 0.50; 1.3-mile track (Darlington), 0.70; 1.5-mile tracks, 0.75; 2-mile tracks (Michigan), 1.00; tracks 2.5 miles and over, 1.25. This system was also used in 1973.
In 1974, the points system was simple: Total money winnings from all track purses (qualifying and contingency awards did not count), in dollars, multiplied by the number of races started, and the resulting figure divided by 1,000 determined the number of points earned. By the end of the season Richard Petty had such a big lead in points, that he increased it even by finishing 30th while his main rival Cale Yarborough made a top-5 (Remember - the money was multiplied by the number of races started. Even if Cale made more money in one particular race, when the total money was multiplied by e. g. 27, the difference between the two leaders could also increase in comparison with situation after race 26).
The current NASCAR points system was developed in 1975 following years of trouble in trying to develop a points system -- from 1949 until 1971, six different systems were used, and in 1972, NASCAR used a different system each year for the next three years.
That type of inconsistency, which included a system, which rewarded most mileage for the entire season, and then another year where mileage and finishing positions were counted, favored larger circuits, and some fans complained about a champion who only won one race. That resulted in a 1974 ill-fated attempt at basing the points system on money and starts. Even though one driver won consecutive races, his opponent who had won the big money races had scored more points.
Bob Latford, a former public relations official at Lowes Motor Speedway devised NASCAR's most popular points system, which was adopted in 1975, which NASCAR used two different versions for their series from 1982 until 1998. In the system, the winner received 175 points, second 170 points, and other positions exactly the same as the current points system.
Until 1998, the Busch Series points system offered 180 points for the winner, but no bonuses for leading laps. The same was true for theCraftsman Truck Series until the end of that season, when NASCAR decided to standardise the points system for their series.
One complaint about the points system was that a driver could finish second and receive an equal number of points as a race winner, which was possible if the driver who led the most laps finished second. NASCAR amended the problem in 2004 by adding five points to the winner, and again in 2007 by adding another five points to the winner.
