NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer says tweaks to road course stage format could be ‘on the table’

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, is keeping a close eye on how road course racing shakes out in 2023.

NASCAR made the decision to not throw a caution for stage breaks on road courses this season, believing it would help the race flow better by not manufacturing a yellow flag. While some have enjoyed it, others are clamoring for the return of caution flags, and Sawyer explained his point of view on the matter during the week.

“I think if you backup to basically out first road course this year at COTA, and basically eliminating the stage breaks. We’re still paying points at that particular lap throughout the race. But just with input from the industry. Our broadcast partners, our fans, our race teams. They said, ‘Well you know, let’s try this in 2023,’ and basically on the road courses, we would not stop at the stage breaks. You know, introduce a different strategy,” started Sawyer. “So we have some data points throughout the year, and to your point, last weekend at Indy, I think we were just a little over two hours, maybe 2:15-ish. This past week at Watkins Glen, just a little under two hours. We have one more road course race this year, the Roval at Charlotte. So as we look at all of those events, the same thing that we do throughout our off-season.

“We’ll put all these topics on the table. Is this what the fans what to see? Is this what’s the best for our industry? And then we’ll look at what changes need to be made for 2024. So I would say all of that’s on the table. But you know, as we’ve talked about before, our events, whether it’s Martinsville or Watkins Glen or Daytona or Talladega, you’re going to see something different. And the back-to-back road course races, right around the two hour mark, one caution in each one of them. So you take that, is that what we want from an entertainment perspective or not? So I think that all things will be on the table as we get through to the 2024 season.”

Evidently, it remains to be seen if the lack of stage cautions at road course tracks continues into 2024. With the addition of so many road courses to the schedule, it’s a bigger decision than ever for Elton Sawyer, and one that could shape the 2024 season.

It’ll be fascinating to see what NASCAR believes is the best course of action when they examine this season, and whether or not stage yellows return to road courses in 2024.

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