How NASCAR Points Are Awarded

From Steve McCormick,Your Guide to NASCAR Racing.
A thorough explanation of how points are awarded In NASCAR

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Busch Series 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 NASCAR points (except the Budweiser Shootout and the NEXTEL 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.
After every race points are assigned per the table at the bottom of this page.
The Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
As of the 2004 season NASCAR points are tallied after 26 races and the top ten are locked into the final ten race Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. These ten drivers 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, NASCAR points are still assigned the same way as the rest of the season to determine the champion.
NASCAR 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
The most points a driver can earn in a single race is 190. If you win the race and lead the most laps you would receive 180 for winning, five bonus points for leading a lap and five bonus points for leading the most laps.
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 (since you must have lead at least the last 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 by giving the race winners an extra five points to bring it to 180 instead of the previous 175 points.
NASCAR Points Awarded

Finish Points 1st 180 2nd 170 3rd 165 4th 160 5th 155 6th 150 7th 146 8th 142 9th 138 10th 134 11th 130 12th 127 13th 124 14th 121 15th 118 16th 115 17th 112 18th 109 19th 106 20th 103 21st 100 22nd 97 23rd 94 24th 91 25th 88 26th 85 27th 82 28th 79 29th 76 30th 73 31st 70 32nd 67 33rd 64 34th 61 35th 58 36th 55 37th 52 38th 49 39th 46 40th 43 41st 40 42nd 37 43rd 34

I gotta admit the points system confuses me sometimes lol, this guide will be really useful.

hehe, don't worry about laura.....if you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Thanks for that speedster, I might take you up on your offer - I'm still trying to learn about nascar.

Knowing about the points system is really only important at the end of the year. When you're trying to figure out where a certain driver has to be in relation to his rival to see who will have more points at the end of the race.. like say a driver is 3rd in points in the last race. How far ahead of the 1st place driver does he have to be, to beat him. Aside from that time of year, just look at the scoring at the end of the race or look it up online.

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I think that more points should be give for leading the most laps and for winning the race and at the end of the year person witht he most wins gets 5 points. A lot of things can be changed about the points but how it is not is ok but little things can make a differance.

Good point there, Baby Bud!!~LOL~ So now that we have put a new nick-name on you, so you are officilally ours!

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHA

A very good friend of mine submitted a new points system proposal to NASCAR a few years ago. It used a complex formula calculating per race: Finishing position, Money won in event,Laps led, Number of passes completed,Number of cars on lead lap at end of race, Number of cars attempting to Qualify for race and most interesting to me number of Sold Tickets to event.
NASCAR actualy showed some interest until they used it in a comparison to previous years results and realized that Jeff Gordon would never have won a Championship under this system...........it was immediately rejected.

Kinda true story

how do they determine pay outs? it seems odd to me that someone can earn more money than someone that did better than them