NASCAR tweaks qualifying rules ahead of Texas Motor Speedway weekend

Following a disastrous qualifying session for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway less than two weeks ago, NASCAR has tweaked the qualifying rules.

Of the 12 drivers who advanced to the third and final round of qualifying for the fifth race of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Auto Club 400, at Auto Club Speedway, a grand total of zero made a qualifying attempt in this round.

All 12 of these drivers failed to make it to the starting line by the time the clock hit 0:00, as none of them wanted to be the leader of the 12-car pack due to the advantage gained from drafting other cars as a result of the new aero package.

As a result of this qualifying round, which resulted in Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon taking the pole position with a “track record” of 0.000 seconds around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Auto Club Speedway oval in Fontana, California due to the fact that he recorded the top lap time in the second qualifying round for the team, NASCAR has tweaked qualifying ahead of the upcoming race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

There were several ways by which NASCAR could have rectified this issue, an issue appeared that it would inevitably result in what happened for the Auto Club 400 even several weeks before it did and needed to be rectified as soon as possible. They chose to implement two of these several ways in an attempt to rectify it.

Qualifying is still set to feature three rounds, including a 10-minute first round for all of the drivers who are entered into the race, a five-minute second round for the fastest 24 drivers of the first round and a five-minute third round for the fastest 12 drivers of the second round.

What is set to change is the fact that now any drivers who fail to complete a lap in any of the qualifying rounds to which they advance will have all of their previous qualifying lap times disallowed and thus be forced to start the race at the back of the grid.

Either the same penalty or disqualification from subsequent qualifying rounds will be issued to any drivers who, based on NASCAR’s judgment, block pit road in a way that prevents other drivers from exiting the pits to make a qualifying attempt.

Drivers will no longer be allowed to sit at the end of pit road and wait until the clock runs down before making their qualifying attempts. Once they leave a track-specific area that is designated by NASCAR, they will be required to exit the pits and make their way onto the track.

Here is what Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, had to say about these changes, according to NASCAR.

"“The inherent problem (at Auto Club) was obviously everybody waiting to the end, and it being unorderly on the end of pit road with people blocking and playing all kinds of games. So really, we want to retake control and make order out of pit road and the way that drivers leave. We want to allow every competitor the chance to leave pit road when they want to leave and not be at the mercy of somebody else.“One of the things we wanted to hold true to is not to go back to single-car qualifying. Single-car qualifying is two things – it’s boring and it’s expensive. It also doesn’t create a good show. Anytime we go on the track it should be a show. Certainly, we are in, first and foremost, the racing business. But we’re also in show business. We definitely have to provide our fans with something that’s intriguing to watch and gets them excited about coming back and watching the race.”"

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

How will NASCAR‘s new qualifying rules work? Qualifying for this Sunday’s race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 400, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas is scheduled to take place this Friday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET, and it is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series