In the week leading up to the July 4 weekend classic Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR has announced changes in the stage lengths of Saturday night's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
The race will remain a 160-lap event for a 400-mile distance, but the first two stages will be extended by 10 laps apiece, to 50 laps from the previous 40 laps. As a result, the third stage will decrease by 20 laps — from 80 laps to 60 laps.
Saturday night's race also will be the first Cup Series race at Daytona contested without restrictor plates since 1987. It will be the second race of the season at DIS, but the season-opening Daytona 500 in February featured the previous season's superspeedway aerodynamic rules package.
The 2019 package for superspeedway racing debuted at Talladega Superspeedway in late April, and although it doesn't include a restrictor plate, it does include a similar tapered spacer.
The rules package for this weekend also will include the spoiler wicker that was added during the Talladega race weekend in an attempt to decrease speeds.
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