NASCAR will implement a new stage-break procedure for its national series beginning this weekend at Iowa Speedway, the sanctioning body announced Thursday.
According to officials, the procedure will apply when a natural caution occurs with 10 or fewer laps remaining in the stage. In that event, the stage will be deemed complete at the time of caution, and that same caution period will serve as the scheduled stage break.
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When the field returns to the start/finish line under yellow, the leader will receive the green-and-white checkered flag along with the yellow. The finishing order of the top 10 at the time of caution will be determined using all available resources, including scoring loops and video replay, just as it is whenever stage points are awarded.
The updated procedure comes after competition officials evaluated the length of caution periods and racing around stage ends to reduce the amount of time spent under caution. This process will be applied for the remainder of the 2026 season.
The Cup Series headlines the weekend at Iowa with Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races Saturday at the 0.875-mile short track (5 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).