Should NASCAR Remove Stage Breaks at All Road Courses?

NASCAR meddled with the idea of not having stage breaks on road course races in the first half of 2023 before reverting to having them in September. In 2024, stage breaks are the norm on all race track types and not every driver is a fan of it. Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell spoke up against it, once again, in Chicago with Tyler Reddick seconding him.

McDowell believes that stage breaks prevent the flow of races on road courses and force drivers to either settle for winning a stage or for winning the race. He said after finishing in fifth place on the Chicago Street Course, “I just don’t think we need the breaks here because they sort of happen organically at the road courses. I really do.”

He continued, “I just don’t think it’s super organic as far as how it all plays out. I think the fastest car should win, and stage breaks take that away.” 23XI Racing driver Reddick, who finished runner-up, saw things on the same line as his counterpart but with a minor caveat. Though he agrees that stage breaks do take block strategizing he also believes they’re a form of controlled chaos.

He added that with the conditions of the weather that was at Chicago during the race half the field would’ve been happy with removing the stage breaks and the other half wouldn’t have been so. Rounding back on McDowell’s opinion, it ought to be noted that this isn’t the first time the driver has voiced out for removing stage breaks on road courses.

The reason behind Michael McDowell’s dislike for stage breaks on road courses

McDowell is one of the better road course racers in the Cup Series field right now. Ahead of this year’s race at the Circuit of the Americas, he detailed to the press why bringing back stage breaks was a wrong move on NASCAR’s part. The primary gist of his words was that he did not want the field to be reset and mess with his strategy when he was running up front.

He said, “ Are we going to go for stage wins or are we going to try to win the race? Obviously, we’re going to try to win the race. For me, selfishly, stage breaks are awful. I really dislike them.”

End of the day, stage breaks or not, McDowell continues to shine on road courses.