NASCAR announced Monday that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will implement the group-based road course qualifying procedure used in NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Touring Series competition during its road-course events at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Under the new procedure, cars will qualify in groups instead of the traditional single-car qualifying runs held on oval race tracks.
“The change will add
an exciting element to road-course qualifying,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR
vice president of competition. “Fans will be treated to new strategy and
increased competition with several cars on track at once.”
The new qualifying
rules for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at road courses are as follows:
· Cars
attempting to qualify will be divided into groups. The number of groups, and
amount of cars in each, will depend on the number of cars that practice for the
event.
· Group
assignments will be based on final practice times.
· Each
qualifying group will be on-track for a set period of time, determined by the
Series Director.
· A car’s best lap time during the group session will be the qualifying lap time of record.
· A
group’s time begins when the first car receives the green flag at the
start/finish line.
“This is going to be
a terrific new format for our NASCAR weekend,” said Steve Page, president and
general manager of Sonoma Raceway. “It will intensify the action, with multiple
cars on the track at the same time. It’s a very positive development for our
fans.”
"The new format of
qualifying at Watkins Glen International enhances the fan experience which is
our top priority,” said Michael Printup, president of Watkins Glen. “Qualifying
on Saturday for our Cheez-ItTM 355 at The Glen is even more of a
not-to-be missed aspect of a weekend of high-quality racing.”
The new format will
debut with the Toyota Save-Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 23 and will return
at Watkins Glen for the Cheez-ItTM 355 at the Glen on August
11.
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