NASCAR eliminates practice, qualifying for remainder of 2020

By Asher Fair | Jul 21, 2020

NASCAR (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

NASCAR announced that there will not be any more practice sessions nor qualifying sessions throughout the remainder of the 2020 season.

Since NASCAR returned from the unexpected 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic back in May, we have not seen any practice sessions across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series or Truck Series aside of Xfinity Series practice for the inaugural race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

The only qualifying session we have seen since then was the qualifying session for the Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The majority of the rest of the starting lineups have been set via random draw. For the second races of doubleheaders at a single track, the starting lineups have been set by inversions based on the results of the first race.

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NASCAR has now confirmed that we will see no more practice sessions nor qualifying sessions throughout the remainder of the 2020 season.

“Following discussions with our race teams and the broader industry, NASCAR will continue to conduct its race weekends without practice and qualifying for the remainder of the 2020 season in all three national series,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Competition.

“The current format has worked well in addressing several challenges during our return to racing. Most importantly, we have seen competitive racing week-to-week. NASCAR will adjust the starting lineup draw procedure for the Playoff races, and will announce the new process at a later date.”

Most notably, this means that nobody will get any practice time for the inaugural Truck Series, Xfinity Series or Cup Series races at the Daytona International Speedway road course in mid-August. Drivers were already told that they will not be allowed to compete in more than one of these races, so everybody will be going in completely blind.

Kansas Speedway is set to host all three series later this week, and the starting lineups are set to be drawn tomorrow evening. With the Truck Series set for a doubleheader, the starting lineup for the second race is set to be based on the results of the first.

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The Cup Series race, the Super Start Batteries 400, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 23. The Xfinity Series race, the Kansas Lottery 250, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 25.

The Truck Series races, the Kansas 200 and the Kansas Speedway 200, are set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, respectively.