How NASCAR Points Are Awarded
(Before The Nextel Cup Chase)

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Busch Grand National and Craftsman Truck Series stars race every week towards the year-end championship. But how do they determine who the Champion is at the end of the year?

Every race on the schedule is worth the same amount of points (except the Bud Shootout and the All-Star race in Charlotte which are not worth any points at all). Winning the Daytona 500 scores exactly the same number of points that winning in Watkins Glen does. This is why it is so important for the racers to run hard every week, there are no "unimportant" races during the season.

As of the 2004 season points are tallied after 26 races and the top ten have their points manually set. The point leader automatically gets 5,050 points, the second place driver gets 5,045 and so on, five points per position through the top ten.

For the last ten races, points are still assigned the same way as the rest of the season to determine the champion.

After every race points are assigned per the table at the bottom of this page.

Bonus Points

Bonus points are awarded as follows:

Five bonus points are awarded to any driver that leads any lap.

An additional five bonus points are awarded to the driver that leads the most laps.

Example #1

If you win the race and lead the most laps you would receive 190 points, 180 for winning, five bonus points for leading a lap and five bonus points for leading the most laps. While the most the second place driver could earn is 175 points, 170 for second and five bonus points for leading.

Example #2

If you win the race but do not lead the most laps you would receive 185 points, 180 for winning and five bonus points for leading a lap. While the most the second place driver could earn is 180 points. 170 for second, five bonus points for leading and five additional bonus points for leading the most laps.

It used to be possible for the first and second place finishers to earn the same number of points. As of 2004 NASCAR has fixed that possibility by giving the race winners 180 instead of the previous 175 points.

NASCAR Points Awarded