NASCAR makes key change to Charlotte road course procedure ahead of October playoff race

Stage breaks are returning to the Charlotte Roval.

NASCAR is walking back its decision from January that eliminated stage breaks for road-course events. As the Cup Series playoffs move to the Round of 12 following Saturday’s night race at Bristol, there will be caution periods at the end of each stage in all of its races.

“I’m sure the question from our fans, and even our competitors, is why do that now,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said Tuesday morning on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. “We want to make sure that throughout the playoffs, in the 10-race Cup Series playoffs, we were officiating across the board the same way. Now, all of our races will have caution stage breaks — that includes the Roval.”

Sawyer continued that this year’s five previous road-course races were competitive, but NASCAR felt there were things it could do “differently that would make our races better.”

When the Roval hosts the sixth race of the Cup Series playoffs on Oct. 8, the restart zone will move to the final chicane before the start/finish line, Sawyer said. This follows similar moves at two other road courses this year, with the restart zone being placed before the final turn at the inaugural Chicago Street Race and at the final chicane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Thinking about the reinstatement of these caution periods, John Hunter Nemechek knows this kind of move will always impact drivers’ strategy. They don’t have to necessarily worry about solely pushing their car forward, as they can work on the car and just try to win each stage. But whether or not a yellow flag waves, drivers still have the same task: Winning the race.

“I don’t really think it matters whether you have stage breaks or not,” Nemechek, the Xfinity Series points leader, said on a teleconference on Tuesday afternoon. “You have to race the race on the racetrack and focus on the best possible outcome. I think it eliminates a little bit of strategy on when you could jump stages and what not beforehand with cautions and all, but all in all, it’s the same hard race.”

Josh Berry, currently seventh in the Xfinity Series, noted that the stage points could definitely impact the playoff picture, as only certain drivers in the field are racing for something — whether they’re eliminated or locked into a playoff spot. He gets the strategy and doesn’t have a strong opinion on it, but feels like consistency makes the most sense.

“I don’t understand why we would have some rules for some races versus other races,” Josh Berry said. “If we decide that it’s not fair to throw the caution at the road course, then we should probably do the same on the oval. I understand from a fan aspect, wanting some consistency there. … Overall, if we’re gonna throw cautions at the ovals for the stages, we should probably do it at the road courses, because that just makes more sense.”