Kyle Busch collects 100th points-awarding stage

CONCORD, N.C.—Kyle Busch claimed victory in the 100th points-paying stage since NASCAR implemented stage racing in the Cup Series in 2017.

Busch swept the first three stages of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday, bringing the driver’s total to five stage wins in 2018 and 19 overall.

In total, 15 drivers have won at least one stage since 2017. Martin Truex Jr. has won the most stages all-time (21), and Busch is second overall.

Rounding out the top five on that list are Kevin Harvick (12), Brad Keselowski (12) and Kyle Larson (9).

CHARLOTTE
Four drivers earned points in all stages in the Coke 600: Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr.

Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne both more than doubled their season totals with their top-10 finishes in various stages in NASCAR’s longest mileage race.

OVERALL
In total, 29 drivers have earned stage points, with 10 of them winning stages in 2018.

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.

STAGE POINTS/WINS THROUGH CHARLOTTE

RANK	DRIVER	POINTS	WINS
1	Kyle Busch	173	5
2	Brad Keselowski	146	4
3	Kevin Harvick	125	6
4	Joey Logano	117	2
5	Kurt Busch	108	2
6	Martin Truex Jr.	96	2
7	Ryan Blaney	95	3
8	Kyle Larson	90	1
9	Clint Bowyer	89
10	Denny Hamlin	72	1
11	Aric Almirola	57
12	Jimmie Johnson	48
13	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	38
14	Erik Jones	36
15	Chase Elliott	35
16	Paul Menard	29	1
17	Michael McDowell	17
18	Ryan Newman	16
19	William Byron	16
20	A.J. Allmendinger	14
21	Alex Bowman	13
22	Daniel Suarez	13
23	Jamie McMurray	10
24	Austin Dillon	7
25	Kasey Kahne	6
26	Darrell Wallace Jr.	5
27	David Ragan	5
28	Ty Dillon	5
29	Trevor Bayne	4

 

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info