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  Ride along with former Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace as he gives CNN/SI a crash-course on NASCAR racing. Rusty's Know-How tips appear each week on CNN/SI.com. Getting to the points
While they can be confusing and controversial at times, the NASCAR Winston Cup points standings are in a lot of people's opinion (including mine), the best system in racing today. Here's how it works. The current system is designed to reward consistency. Recent evidence is Terry Labonte's 1996 championship season in which he won only two races. He beat Jeff Gordon for the award despite Gordon's 10 race victories. Here are the basics. The race winner gets 175 points, then it drops off five points per position through No. 6. Each spot after that drops off four points through 11th, then every spot after that drops off three points. There are also bonus points. Five points go to every driver who leads a lap and five additional bonus points go to the driver who leads the most laps. So it is possible for a driver to gain 185 points per race, should he win and lead the most laps. If you don't fall out of races and are consistent, you'll be contending for the NASCAR Winston Cup championship. | ||||||
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