Chase Elliott leads drivers in stage points

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Chase Elliott is the first driver to earn 50 stage points in NASCAR Cup Series points-awarding races in 2020.

Elliott leads the competition four races into the 2020 season, earning nine points in the FanShield 500 Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

“Stage wins are really important this time of year, so those are what you want,” Elliott said to The Racing Experts.

Ryan Blaney (43 points), Martin Truex Jr. (42), Alex Bowman (38) and Joey Logano (37) are the top-5 competitors with the most stage points.

Overall, 23 drivers have finished inside the top 10 in stage endings in Cup Series races this season.

With the exception of the Coca-Cola 600 in May (four stages), every points awarding race in 2018 is broken up into three stages.

Each of the first two stages awards points to the top-10 finishing drivers. A first-place finish earns 10 points, second-place gets nine points, and so forth.

The stage points totals in this article do not include stage points earned in the Daytona qualifying races from February.

The next points-awarding race for the series will be next Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

STAGE WINS

Six drivers have won at least one stage in 2020 with each win counting as one playoff point.

Chase Elliott leads the competition with three stage wins.

Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski have each won one stage.

STAGE POINT TOTALS
1) Chase Elliott 50
2) Ryan Blaney 43
3) Martin Truex Jr. 42
4) Alex Bowman 38
5) Joey Logano 37
6) Kevin Harvick 33
7) Jimmie Johnson 33
8) Kyle Busch 27
9) Aric Almirola 23
10) Brad Keselowski 22
11) Matt DiBenedetto 13
12) Denny Hamlin 13
13) William Byron 12
14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 12
15) Kyle Larson 9
16) Tyler Reddick 9
17) Kurt Busch 6
18) Clint Bowyer 3
19) Chris Buescher 3
20) Erik Jones 3
21) Cole Custer 1
22) Ty Dillon 1

OUTLOOK
The next points-awarding race for NASCAR’s premier series is scheduled for Sunday, March 15 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.