NASCAR on Wednesday announce that a new knockout style qualifying system will be put in place for its three national touring divisions for the 2014 season.
In a release, NASCAR called the change: “a move aimed toward enhancing the fan experience watching at the track and at home” and described the system as something that is “more compelling, more closely emulates actual on-track competition and underlines the sport’s on-going commitment to innovation.”
Below are the new rules as outlined Wednesday by NASCAR.
(Source: NASCAR)
• The first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap from the first qualifying round will advance to the second round.
• The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
• The second qualifying elimination round will be 10 minutes in duration and the 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time will advance to the third and final round. The fastest remaining cars/trucks earn positions 13th through 24th based on their times posted in qualifying in descending order.
• The third and final qualifying round will be five minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.• There will be a five-minute break between each qualifying round.
At tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of two rounds:
• The first qualifying elimination round will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time from the first qualifying round will advance to the second and final round.
• The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.
• There will be a 10-minute break between the two qualifying rounds.
• The second and final qualifying round will be 10 minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time posted will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.
The new format will not be used at the season opening Daytona 500. It also won’t be used for non-points Sprint Cup events or the Camping World Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway.
“We believe the timing is right for a new qualifying format across our three national series,” Robin Pemberton, vice president for competition and racing development said in a release. “This style of group qualifying has all the makings of being highly competitive and more engaging to our fans in the stands and those watching on television and online. For the drivers and teams, we believe this new qualifying will fuel even greater competition leading into the events. Additionally, it provides our tracks, broadcasters and other key partners with a greater opportunity to develop more entertaining content for our race weekends.”
For me. This looks like utter c**p. But I’ll just have to watch it and see for my self. But what is so wrong with doing Heat Races? Eldora Heat races were full as hell. That’s what all three of them should do to get views on TV.
What ticks me off is that they ban the Bump drafting for all top three series. The Super Speedway races are going to be boring now. 495 miles of just one single file freight train. Choo, choo. Get you sleeping pillow ready!
I from corrum #1 and one from corrum #2. with 6 you get an egg roll… This kind stuff must come from people with sleep asthenia.
Paul, NASCAR banned tandem drafting. There is a difference.I don’t think you will ever see the big series going to “heat races”. I think this new idea will be better than time trialing one car at a time.
Steve Barrett: I read on Jayski somewhere that Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks were not allowed to bum draft at any super speedway. I don’t remember ware I saw it but it did not make me happy. But I could be wrong. And you could be right. We will just have to wait a few more weeks and find out what happens right? lol
And I agree this new qualifying thing is slowly gluing on to me. But you know with NASCAR changing their rules every two years the Qualifying will someday be changed to heat races. Make my words. lol 😛
So let’s see…
1. You can’t change tires.
2. Everybody knows that most of the time the more laps that you put on a set of tires the more the times fall off.
3. The rules don’t state that you have to run the entire session (and there are ways around that snyways).
4. What’s to stop teams from going out and just completing 2 or 3 laps and then parking it for the rest of the session? Then they’d have 20 minutes of dead air time to fill.
5. Are they going to have all 43 cars on the track at once? What if you get a lousy draw and are stuck behind a slow car? Will contact be allowed?
6. All existing pole records will probably be safe because theoretically the fastest times will have to be run in the first round to make the cut but that won’t be the time of record.
Glad this was thought when they were all sober.