A name change will not be the only thing NASCAR fans notice when the season kicks off with the Daytona 500 in February.

The sanctioning body, along with new sponsor Monster Energy, XFINITY and Camping World, announced Monday a format change across all three national series.

According to NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, the new racing format will emphasize aggressive racing and strategy.

“Simply put, this will make our great racing even better,” France said. “I’m proud of the unprecedented collaboration from our industry stakeholders, each of whom had a common goal — strengthening the sport for our fans. This is an enhancement fully rooted in teamwork, and the result will be an even better product every single week.”

The new format divides races into three segments.

The top 10 finishers in each stage will be awarded points for both the race and toward the series championship. The winner of the first two stages will receive on playoff point, while the race winner receives five additional playoff points.

All playoff points will be added to the driver’s reset total following the 26th race if the driver advances to the playoffs.

An official regular season champion will be crowned and the drivers who qualify for the postseason will have their playoff points reset to 2,000.

Drivers will take all their playoff points with them through the end of the third round with the top four drivers racing for the series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The new format will create a pair of breaks in the racing at each venue.

Michigan International Speedway President Rick Brenner is looking forward to the upcoming season.

“These competition enhancements will create more thrilling moments for our fans to celebrate multiple winners,” Brenner said. “There is nothing more exciting than having the regular season championship and playoffs impacted by every race. We are excited to see this in action starting next month at the Daytona 500 and can’t wait to experience it here at MIS in June and August.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, likes the new format.

“I love the fact that the bonus points or the playoff points will carry through the playoffs all the way to the last round. So everything you do throughout the season is really going to help you throughout the playoffs. That’s a great change. Also, the stages are going to bring a lot of excitement for the drivers and the fans. I was in a unique position this past season to be a driver and a fan, and definitely I think this creates a lot of interest in a part of the event, in every event, every single week where it was needed.

“There will be a lot on the line,” he said. “It’s going to be very interesting to watch these crew chiefs try to figure out the strategies that will help their drivers obtain the most points for each stage, and it’s going to be fun to see how this evolves. I think it’s an exciting time for NASCAR, and the fans should be pretty excited about this.”

Michigan native Brad Keselowski said he things it will inspire better racing.

“So I look at races as soon as the plate tracks, especially Talladega, and you might have seen cars that have lagged back in the past,” he said. “You’re not going to do that anymore. The single-file, high-line ride out, those days are gone, and I think that’s great. We’re going to go out there and we’re going to race to a new level that we haven’t seen before, and I’m really pumped about being a part of that in the future of this sport.

“To me, you look at NASCAR and you look at the way our races were formatted back in the 40s and 50s, it was formatted around endurance, long races, trying to make sure you were there until the end, but today’s technology, the teams are just so smart, and if we created motorsports from scratch today, this is exactly how we would have done it, so it’s is something I’m very proud of.”

The Daytona 500 Feb. 26 kicks off a new era in NASCAR with a new sponsor and a new racing format.

The series comes to the Irish Hills of Michigan and Michigan International Speedway June 18 for the FireKeepers Casino 400 and again Aug. 13 for the Pure Michigan 400.