it did start with the 50th one and has stayed. I LOVE the 50 laps. Now for the nay sayers
1) its the biggest purse of the year and should be more laps. It pays the equal of 15 WOO wins in 1 night, let them race for it with more laps
2) i have been to 22 nationals, 5 of the last 6, aka the 50 lappers, have come down to the last 2 laps. When it was only 30 laps, seen many races there won by 5, 6, 7 seconds and did not go a few years because of that, now its brought life back into the nats
3) the teams work their ass off all year countless hours so why not factor them in and let there be break and let them work some magic.