You may already know by  now,  there's a  new NASCAR points system  in position for the up coming season.  It's going to effect the season tremendously.  It would appear that as NASCAR has grown to be more popular that the desire to entice and please new fans is impacting on the rules far more than ever before.  Over-all this appears to be a great trend, but to NASCAR purists it might not be.  This  new NASCAR points system  will ideally attract a lot more fans by positioning more race winners into the chase.

In spite of why these rules have been applied it's gonna be interesting to find out how they effect this year.  Rewarding race winners is great, and it will put more racers which are hot into the chase for the cup. Actually I don't believe it makes a difference what they do, Jimmie Johnson continues to likely to be a big favorite.  Look at this past year, difficulties in the early to mid season, trailing in points going into the final race, and that he still pulls it off.  This  new NASCAR points system  will ideally attract a lot more fans by putting more race winners into the chase.

3 bonus points are awarded to the driver that wins the race.

1 bonus point is awarded to any driver leading any lap. One more bonus point is awarded to the driver leading the most laps in each race.

Essentially the most points a driver can acquire in a single race is 48.  In the event you win the race (43 points) and lead the most laps you would receive 3 bonus points for winning, 1  bonus point for leading a lap and 1 more bonus point for leading the most laps.

If you win the race but don't lead the most laps you will obtain 47 points, 43 + 3 for winning and 1 bonus point for leading a lap (since you must have lead at least the last lap).  Even though the most the 2nd place driver could earn is 44 points.  42 for second, 1 bonus point for leading and 1 additional bonus point for leading the most laps.

Back in the day it was  possible  for the first and second place finishers to earn the same number of points.  NASCAR fixed that in 2004 by giving the race winners extra bonus points.  In 2007 NASCAR added even more points to the winner's total.  In 2011 NASCAR overhauled the point system but maintained the race winners bonus as things are today.

This  system  rewards consistency more than it rewards winning.