The NASCAR season is broken up into a 26-week regular season and a 10-week playoff to determine the winner of the Sprint Cup. All races use the following point distribution:

Place	Points	PT Earnings
1	185	7.4
2	170	6.8
3	165	6.6
4	160	6.4
5	155	6.2
6	150	6
7	146	5.84
8	142	5.68
9	138	5.52
10	134	5.36
11	130	5.2
12	127	5.08
13	124	4.96
14	121	4.84
15	118	4.72
16	115	4.6
17	112	4.48
18	109	4.36
19	106	4.24
20	103	4.12
21	100	4
22	97	3.88
23	94	3.76
24	91	3.64
25	88	3.52
26	85	3.4
27	82	3.28
28	79	3.16
29	76	3.04
30	73	2.92
31	70	2.8
32	67	2.68
33	64	2.56
34	61	2.44
35	58	2.32
36	55	2.2
37	52	2.08
38	49	1.96
39	46	1.84
40	43	1.72
41	40	1.6
42	37	1.48
43	34	1.36
44	31	1.24
45	28	1.12
46	25	1
47	22	0.88
48	19	0.76
49	16	0.64
50	13	0.52
51	10	0.4
52	7	0.28
53	4	0.16
54	1	0.04

In addition to the points awarded for order of finish, five bonus points (PT$0.20) are awarded to each driver who leads a lap, as well as five more bonus points to the driver who leads the most laps in the race.
At the conclusion of the 26-week regular season, the top 12 drivers qualify for the Chase for the Cup. The Sprint Cup point totals of those drivers are raised to 5,000 plus 10 points for each victory during the regular season. For the drivers who do not qualify for the Chase, they are still able to race in the 10 playoff races, but their point totals are not bumped up to 5,000 after the 26th race.