Did I hear one report that NACAR is doing away with stages in the races? IMO, that would be a good thing.
No, likely keeping the stages. This will mean 110 races in the NASCAR Cup Series — 36 features and 74 sprints. Stages 1 and 2, plus the Duel (Daytona) and 3 at Charlotte oval, will be treated as “sprint” races, 10-1 for each. No points for outside top ten in the sprint races. The “feature” race is at the end of the second (or in the case of Charlotte oval, third) stage.
The points system is now changed where a perfect score is 75 points — 55 for the win and 20 for the stages, except at the two races where it is 85 points.
Having two sprints and a feature is deceptive but NASCAR could change the stages in some races to ensure a longer feature but two shorter sprint races to ensure the 10-to-win races are closer to each other. Supercars, for example, in a three-race weekend ensures the two shorter races are of a similar length before the feature is the longest race. All weekends in that series pay 300 points for the winner, but winner’s points can be split if different drivers win.