NASCAR: The ‘confusing’ Daytona 500 qualifying format

The qualifying format for the annual NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 is unique and can be difficult to understand.

The 64th annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season underway at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 20, but before that happens, the 40-car field needs to be set for the “Great American Race”.

Qualifying for this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida is unique; the format used is not used for any of the other 35 races on the Cup Series schedule.

First, each of the entries, including the 36 chartered entries as well as the additional non-chartered entries (six for 2022), make a two-lap qualifying run in the single-car qualifying session. The top 10 then advance to the second round, where those 10 each make another run.

Only the top two drivers in the second round solidify their starting spots for the Daytona 500 — on the front row. The rest of the lineup is set in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels, two races for which the starting lineups are set based on the speeds from the single-car qualifying session.

The single-car qualifying session also locks the fastest two of the non-chartered entries into the race.

But here’s where things get interesting — and somewhat confusing.

The top two non-chartered entries in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels also lock into the race.

But if one (or both) of them already locked in on speed from the single-car qualifying session, it doesn’t go to the next highest finishing non-chartered entry, which one might expect considering the fact that those top two fastest drivers from qualifying were already locked in.

Instead, it goes to the next fastest non-chartered entry in the single-car qualifying session.

So the drivers who originally locked in on speed are locked in regardless, but they may end up officially locking in because of the Duels, opening up a spot (or spots) for somebody else to officially lock in on speed.

Locking in on speed initially only guarantees that you “lock in”. Somebody else could end up officially locking in on speed if the drivers who initially did so end up officially locking in because of the Duels.

The Duels effectively take precedence over the single-car qualifying session, despite the fact that they come second.

Let’s look at an example, using six drivers, of whom four lock in.

Single-car qualifying results

1. Driver A (locks in no matter what, not necessarily on speed)
2. Driver B (locks in no matter what, not necessarily on speed)
3. Driver C
4. Driver D
5. Driver E
6. Driver F

Let’s take two different approaches for the Duels, one that sees a top two driver from qualifying change the way by which he locks in and one that does not.

NOTE: Drivers who lock in are listed in bold.

Duel 1 results

1. Driver A (now locked in on Duel result as opposed to qualifying speed)
2. Driver E (still not locked in, due to lower qualifying speed than Driver C, even though Driver A was already locked in and Driver E was next highest Duel finisher)
3. Driver C (now locked in on qualifying speed)

Duel 2 results

• Driver F (now locked in on Duel result)
• Driver D (still not locked in, due to lower qualifying speed than Driver B, even though Driver D finished higher than Driver B in the Duel)
• Driver B (still locked in on qualifying speed)

So why do the Duels effectively take precedence? This is the case because the Duel results set the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 itself.

So at the end of the day, the two drivers who end up officially locking in on speed will be given the 39th and 40th starting positions, whereas the drivers who officially lock in because of the Duels have the potential to start much higher.

It all makes quite a bit more sense once you’ve seen it in action. Fox Sports 1 is set to broadcast both the single-car qualifying session (Wednesday, February 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET) and the Bluegreen Vacations Duels (Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. ET) live from Daytona International Speedway, and Fox is set to broadcast the Daytona 500 itself live on Sunday, February 20 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. If you haven’t begun your free trial of FuboTV, now would be a great time to do so!