Fuel mileage eliminated as possible Daytona 500 factor as stages set
Fuel mileage won’t be a factor in determining the winner of the Daytona 500 this year, nor will it be for the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series races at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR on Wednesday set the segment lengths for all three national touring races at Daytona later this month.
All three races will be broken into three stages.
The first two stages of the Daytona 500 will be 60 laps each, with the final stage 80 laps, for a total of 200 laps.
The fuel window for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars at Daytona is typically 45-48 laps. That means every driver will have to stop for fuel at least once during each of the three stages.
Also, the Daytona 500 won’t be official until the completion of the second stage, or 120 laps. In years past, the 500 would have been considered official after 100 laps.
In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, the Powershares 300 will be run in stages of 30 laps each for the first two stages and a 60-lap final stage.
For the NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, the first two stages will be 20 laps each, with the third and final stage 60 laps.
NASCAR is continuing to work on stage lengths for subsequent races after Daytona, with details to be announced at a later date.
