Richard Petty, “The King” himself, leaned in close to Dale Inman, his legendary crew chief. Their conversation was a whispered symphony of racing nostalgia and modern-day bewilderment. The topic? A racing format that’s turning the traditional NASCAR playbook on its head.

Stage racing – a concept that would make even the most seasoned racing veterans scratch their heads. For Petty, it’s more than just a new rule; it’s a puzzle that keeps shifting right before his eyes. “I got all confused,” he candidly admits, his trademark sunglasses glinting with a mix of frustration and fascination.

Richard Petty doesn’t seem to understand stage racing

The moment crystallizes when the seven-time Cup Series Champion describes a scenario that perfectly captures his pet peeve. He detailed an incident at the Circuit of The Americas race on Sunday, where Bubba Wallace ended up winning Stage 1 after an interesting turn of events. “First thing I knew, he went back back back, and he was running about 12th or 14th, and everybody in front of him pitted, and he winds up winning that stage,” he says, referring to Bubba Wallace’s strategic race performance. It’s a moment that epitomizes the complexity of modern NASCAR racing.

Richard Petty’s confession cuts to the heart of stage racing’s greatest challenge. Stage racing performance began in 2017 when the sport split races into several segments, which distributed points separately from a stage to stage basis. Drivers who have been racing for many decades under previous rules must now learn a completely new strategic approach to the sport. It’s like learning an entirely new language. “That’s what messes me up,” Petty admitted on the Petty Family Racing Podcast, “trying to watch it and then find out you know when they come back out who stopped and who’s not and where they’re at.”

However, Petty can still appreciate a great drive, and when Inman asked him about Kyle Busch, Petty’s response is telling. “No, he drove his panty off,” he says of Kyle Busch, acknowledging the intense driving that stage racing demands. Busch led a race-high 42 laps only for a late caution involving Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon to wipe off his 2-second lead on the grid. His tires were older, and he faded to fifth as the race ended. While stage racing played a big part in Busch’s tire strategy, it was a style of racing that Petty could get behind, unlike Wallace’s stage 1 victory.

The evolution of race strategy

Long before stages became the heartbeat of NASCAR, racing was a different animal altogether. Focusing exclusively on speed defined Richard Petty’s era because exceeding all competitors was the formula to win back in the day. Petty would probably smile while remarking to us during his interviews that his era of racing did not feature modern stage interruptions that separate the different segments. They raced from green to white, and that was it! However, the transformation didn’t happen overnight.

NASCAR represents an ever-evolving sport in which each succeeding generation adds distinct principles to its racing methodology. Prior to stage racing, NASCAR featured uninterrupted mechanical endurance races where driver skill reigned supreme, but modern competition turned into a 200-mph high-speed strategy. Stage racing introduced multiple battlegrounds to each race, which created distinct championship segments on top of a single battle line. Each lap during these segments brought new opportunities to advance.

Moreover, the stage racing format has led to significant changes in how drivers accumulate points. Since its introduction, stage racing has awarded points to the top 10 drivers at the end of each of the first two stages. This system encourages drivers to compete aggressively throughout the race, not just at the finish. In the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series, drivers earned 1,440 stage points, with top drivers like Kyle Busch accumulating significant advantages heading into the playoffs.

But for veterans like Petty, it’s a format that challenges everything they know about racing. The complexity that confuses him is precisely what makes modern NASCAR so compelling. Pit stop timing, stage points, strategic positioning—these are the new tools of the trade, turning drivers into tacticians as much as speed demons.

Yet, there’s a beautiful continuity in this change. The core of NASCAR remains the same–pushing machines and human limits to their absolute edge. The stage racing format might be new, but the spirit of competition? That’s as timeless as Richard Petty’s iconic number 43.