When stage racing was announced by NASCAR last year there was a lot of uncertainty that went along with it for both drivers and fans of the sport.
Now drivers have a full-year of stage racing under their belts and it seems that some of them have grown to like it.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. took to twitter to share his stance on the move that was made in an effort to make things more exciting for the sport as a whole.
Stage racing is fine with me as well, if only because it killed nearly all of the fake debris yellows. Also, there are $$ to be made in a viable fantasy format in a NASCAR with mid race rewards. https://t.co/wS3nBpohld
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) January 7, 2018
Earnhardt response was to that of Brad Keselowski after Kes commented on a previous post asking why more drivers didn't have this reaction sooner.
I like stage races, because their is a reward at the end of each one of them. This random caution idea had no such premise to it and was universally disliked by all the drivers I know. Thus the discrepancies in opinions. https://t.co/KjaB44WOYs
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) January 7, 2018
This appears to be quite a different tune than that of some other drivers leading up to the 2017 season.
But that was also prior to any of them running a stage race, or reaping the benefits of one. One driver in particular that benefited from stage racing was Martin Truex Jr. During 2017, Truex won eight races, with 19 stage wins in total. With each stage win garnering a playoff point and each win worth five points, Truex made the most of the new rule.