Is Kyle Busch Right About a Lack of Respect Between Drivers?

1. No stage cautions for the first time since 2016. How will strategy change?

The additions of Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Jordan Taylor to the NASCAR Cup Series field at Circuit of the Americas have generated all the buzz, but there is another aspect to the race that makes it one of the most anticipated of the year: There will be no stage cautions for the first time since 2016.

Stage points will still be awarded at predetermined lap, but drivers will not receive the green- and white-checkered flag nor the caution flag that follows directly after. Instead, the field keeps racing, just as it was before 2017.

Implemented for all Cup road courses in 2023, the new rule scraps predetermined cautions and dramatically alters pit strategy, an aspect of road courses that has been lacking since the implementation of stages.

First, teams will have to map out the entire race. They can no longer implement individual plans for stage one, stage two and the final stage. This means if the race were to hypothetically run without any cautions, everyone would have to calculate the number of pit stops needed and the opportune laps to come in for service.

But of course, there is almost always a caution. And the timing of those cautions will alter hypothetical plans.

The threat of cautions also creates a danger zone for drivers who have stayed out. If drivers in the back decide to pit while the frontrunners stay out, an unlucky caution would relegate them behind the drivers who have already stopped for service.

And while drivers routinely pitted before the stage caution in order to have great track position for the start of the next one, Sunday’s (March 26) race may see the opposite: Teams may stay out for stage points and immediately head to pit road afterward.

Teams that are outside the top 10 have the luxury to visit pit road before, during or after stage points are awarded. And if enough people pit, that will put the frontrunners at the risk of getting trapped with a caution if they stay out too long.

And given COTA’s status as the longest track on the Cup schedule, no one is in danger of going a lap down with a pit stop. Therefore, pit stop strategy in Sunday’s race will likely be decided by teams outside the top 10 showing their hands. And if their play is to visit pit road at an unorhodox time, the frontrunners will have to respond immediately.

2. Is Kyle Busch right about a lack of respect between drivers?

During…