The decision was a controversial one. Back when stage racing was introduced in 2017, the NASCAR world was divided by the change in format. Sure, it gave drivers an incentive to push for points throughout the races, but stage cautions also broke up the natural flow of the race, forcing drivers to reset and influencing long-term strategy. Stock car racing fans don’t want to see drivers lifting to save fuel, a factor that played a big role in the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400.

And now, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared a controversial stage racing idea to help solve what is arguably the biggest superspeedway issue. Wanting drivers to go all guns blazing as soon as the green flag drops, the veteran urged NASCAR to potentially explore a radical option, one that wouldn’t force drivers to pit or go into ‘fuel saving’ mode at Daytona or Talladega.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t want races to be decided by fuel mileage

“I went into max fuel-save mode,” said Ryan Blaney after the checkered flag was waved at Daytona International Speedway. The Team Penske driver led 27 out of 160 laps at the ‘World Center of Racing’ to take his second triumph of the season, finishing third and fifth in the opening two stages, respectively.

With the stakes being high in the final race of the regular season, fans wanted drivers to hit the pedal to the metal as soon as the race began. And even though the opening 35 laps didn’t need fuel saving, Xfinity Series driver Jeb Burton couldn’t help but say, “We need to add an extra stage in these races to end this fuel saving cr-p.” He wasn’t alone.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also shared a wild stage racing idea that might potentially solve the existing stage issues on superspeedways. Sharing his thoughts on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the veteran said, “The only way you could probably do that for the rest of the race was to be able to add a fourth stage, which some people talked about. Like at Charlotte, 600, we have four stages. So, if we were to struggle going forward and continue to have boring a-s fuel-saving style racing at Daytona or Talladega, the idea would be, one of the ideas on the table, I assume, would be to add a fourth stage, so that every stage is not a fuel mileage situation.”

Junior’s solution is fairly straightforward. The 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 had 160 scheduled laps, which can potentially be divided into 40 laps per stage. As things stand, the existing format has stage lengths that force at least one pit stop in the longer segments, essentially making superspeedway races a battle of fuel mileage and efficiency rather than being the ‘fastest’ car on the track.

In an ideal scenario, drivers shouldn’t have to choose between pitting under a stage break, gambling on green flag runs, or conserving fuel until the next caution. Fans just want to see some high-octane action.

And that’s exactly what Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants to see as well: Drivers not lifting during races. He said, “That guarantees me as a fan that I shouldn’t see my driver, and all the drivers riding around half a throttle, because they can get to the end of the stage without running out of fuel.”

Short sprints force drivers to go flat out, encouraging aggressive, no-holds-barred competition. Ultimately, the fastest driver should win, not the one who outlasts his opponents with a shrewd fuel-saving strategy. What’s the fun in that? Perhaps the time has come for NASCAR to reconsider its superspeedway format once again.

Stage racing continues to divide the community

Earlier this year, the race at Bristol Motor Speedway ended with a 235 green-flag run. That was the longest in the Cup Series since Dover in 1997, more than 27 years ago. It almost felt like a sneak peek into a bygone era, one where races weren’t influenced by mandatory cautions. Fans just want to see uninterrupted racing, and while many feel stages need to be removed altogether, others feel NASCAR should ditch the mandatory stage cautions to allow the race to flow naturally.

Even former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace weighed in on the stage racing issue. The 69-year-old said, “The stage racing is something that half the people like and half the people hate. If anyone tells you that it’s overwhelmingly the most popular thing, in my opinion, it’s not. I would say it’s pretty split among the fans.” Stock car racing enthusiasts want stage points to be earned under green flag pit cycles, and the execution of race strategy to play a bigger role in the outcome of the race.

Instead, the race at Daytona became a fuel-mileage fixture (except for Stage 1). Team Penske’s Austin Cindric even said, “A lot of the time, everybody isn’t saving fuel or saving the same amount of fuel or doing the same tactics. A lot of things that are probably really difficult to cover as far as what goes on.” With Jeb Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggesting the potential inclusion of a fourth stage, would that be able to solve some of the existing problems with the format? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!