NASCAR: Absence of qualifying sessions extended
By Asher Fair
NASCAR’s random draws and inverted starting lineups are set to continue across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series through at least Sunday, August 2.
The single-car qualifying session for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 24 is the lone real qualifying session that NASCAR has held since returning to action following the 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Eight Cup Series races, six Xfinity Series races and three Truck Series races have been contested since the sport returned to action exactly one month ago today on Sunday, May 17.
The starting lineups for the rest of these races were set by random draws or by inverted starting lineups (top 20) from the results of races contested at the same venue.
NASCAR is set to continue using random draws and inverted starting lineups through at least the Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 2. There will be no qualifying sessions through at least that race.
Lineups for all the races through Aug. 2 will continue to be done by draw as they have been lately except for the second race of a doubleheader weekend at the same track where it will be previous race results with an invert. #nascar @NASCARONFOX
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 16, 2020
From now until then, there are eight Cup Series races, seven Xfinity Series races and six Truck Series races on the schedule.
The absence of qualifying sessions could very well be extended beyond Sunday, August 2. The earliest they could return is the following weekend, when the Cup Series and Truck Series are set to compete at Michigan International Speedway and the Xfinity Series is set to compete at Road America.
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These random draws, of course, are not completely random. NASCAR groups drivers based on owner points for all three series, and that is how starting positions are selected.
For the Cup Series, charter teams in positions 1 through 12 in owner points are placed in one group and draw for positions 1 through 12. Charter teams in positions 13 through 24 in owner points are placed in another and charter teams in positions 25 through 36 in owner points are placed in another. Positions 37 to 40 go to the open teams in order of owner points.
For the Xfinity Series, the groupings are the same. Any additional cars that are eligible to compete are assigned positions from 37 through 40 based on their order of eligibility.
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For the Truck Series, the groupings are positions 1 through 10, positions 11 through 21 and positions 22 though 32. Any additional cars that are eligible to compete are assigned positions from 33 through 40 based on their order of eligibility.