When NASCAR announced that it was adding stages to its races for 2017, social media blew up and most of the reaction at first was negative.
Some called it a gimmick, others said it made NASCAR like the WWE, they would never, ever watch another race, blah, blah, blah.
Well, guess what?
Despite the skeptics and the haters, stage racing worked and it worked well, accomplishing two critical objectives: 1. Giving drivers an incentive to race hard in the first half of the race; and 2. Because of No. 1, making the show a lot more interesting for the fans who watch from the grandstands and on TV.