HOW THE SPRINT POINTS BREAK DOWN AT WESTERN WORLD

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 13, 2019)………Entering this weekend’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car finale at Arizona Speedway, C.J. Leary and Tyler Courtney are separated a mere 44 points.  One less-than-stellar night at the 52^nd annual Western World Championships on Nov. 15 or 16 by one or the other could spell doom for title hopes.

But how bad of a finish could either Leary or Courtney endure and still remain above water with championship dreams still within their grasp, you might ask?  Where must Leary or Courtney finish to clinch the title?  All these questions and more will be more easily answered when the championship picture becomes clearer this weekend.

USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:

1. C.J. Leary - 2,192

2. Tyler Courtney - 2,148

AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:

1. Damion Gardner - 1,382

2. Austin Williams - 1,323

USAC SANDS CHEVROLET SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:

1. Brody Roa - 1,008

2. R.J. Johnson - 982

Both nights of the Western World this Friday and Saturday are full points nights for the USAC AMSOIL National, CRA and Sands Chevrolet Southwest Sprint Car and this weekend marks the finales for all three series.  All three divisions are in the midst of tight points chases, and also feature the same exact points structure, and we’ll break it down here for a standard four heat race format.

QUALIFYING: A maximum of six points are available for qualifying.  The six overall fastest qualifiers will receive points following the qualifying session.  The fastest overall receives 6 pts., second quickest gains 5 pts., third fastest takes home 4 pts., fourth quick collects 3 pts., fifth place gets 2 pts. and the sixth fastest qualifier earns 1 pt.  Every driver who qualified 7^th through the balance of the field receives 0 points.

QUALIFYING POINTS BREAKDOWN:

1^st - 6 Pts.

2^nd - 5 Pts.

3^rd - 4 Pts.

4^th – 3 Pts.

5^th – 2 Pts.

6^th – 1 Pt.

HEAT RACES: A maximum of eight points are up for grabs in each of the four heat races.  With four heats, the standard format of the top-4 finishers transferring to the feature will have only the transfers receiving points.  First place will receive 8 pts., second place gets 7 pts., third place takes 6 pts. while the fourth and final transfer spot collects 5 points.  All others finishing fifth on back will receive zero pts. at that point in time.

HEAT RACE POINTS BREAKDOWN:

1^ST – 8 Pts.

2^ND – 7 Pts.

3^RD – 6 Pts.

4^TH – 5 Pts.

SEMI-FEATURE: All who did not transfer from their respective heat races to the feature event will compete in that night’s semi-feature where a maximum of four points are in play.  The winner gets 4 pts., second place gets 3 pts., third place grabs 2 points, while fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers will receive one point each.  All others finishing 7^th on back, in addition to all other signed-in drivers who are not competing in the night’s feature, will receive 10 points UNLESS the driver starts the feature race via a provisional, and thus, forfeits their 10 “appearance” points.

SEMI-FEATURE POINTS BREAKDOWN:

1^ST – 4 Pts.

2^ND – 3 Pts.

3^RD – 2 Pts.

4^TH – 1 Pt.

5^TH – 1 Pt.

6^TH – 1 Pt.

All Others – 10 Pts. (If Not Using A Provisional)

FEATURE: A maximum of 70 points go to the winner of the feature event.  The points break down in increments of three within the top-10 starting with the winner receiving 70 pts., with second through 10^th positions receiving 67-64-61-58-55-52-49-46-43, respectively.  Finishing positions 11-20 are separated by two points starting at 41 pts, followed by 39-37-35-33-31-29-27-25-23.  Positions 20^th on back, regardless of the number of starters in the event, will earn 23 points .

FEATURE POINTS BREAKDOWN:

1^ST – 70 Pts.

2^ND – 67 Pts.

3^RD – 64 Pts.

4^TH – 61 Pts.

5^TH – 58 Pts.

6^TH – 55 Pts.

7^TH – 52 Pts.

8^TH – 49 Pts.

9^TH – 46 Pts.

10^TH – 43 Pts.

11^TH – 41 Pts.

12^TH – 39 Pts.

13^TH – 37 Pts.

14^TH – 35 Pts.

15^TH – 33 Pts.

16^TH – 31 Pts.

17^TH – 29 Pts.

18^TH – 27 Pts.

19^TH – 25 Pts.

20^TH On Back – 23 Pts.

Now that you have the points broken down, now’s the time to watch it all unfold and witness how it plays out.  In this series, every single point counts down to the last lap, evidenced by the 2018 tie for the championship between Tyler Courtney and Kevin Thomas, Jr. that was determined by a tiebreaker of most wins.  Get ready, buckle in and get your scorecard ready.  If it gets close, you’ll know the score and you’ll be on top of the game.  No T-Squares needed.

Both nights, pits open at 2pm Mountain, grandstands at 3pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm, and cars on track at 5:30pm.  Adult tickets are $30-$35, seniors are $30-$35, kids 11 and under are $15, adult pit passes are $40, kids 7-12 pit passes are $20, kids 6 and under pit passes are $10.

A practice night begins the festivities on Thursday, November 14.  Adult pit passes are $30, kids 7-12 pit passes are $10 and kids 6 and under pit passes are free.

If you are unable to make it to the track, all the action can be watched live on FloRacing, listened to live on the USAC app with live timing and scoring available on both the USAC and Race-Monitor apps.