NASCAR: Phoenix qualifying not being broadcast on Fox
By Asher Fair
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to continue on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway with the fourth of 36 races on the schedule.
The Shriners Children's 500 is the first of two on this year's schedule at the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval, with the other being the Championship 4 season finale in November. Phoenix Raceway has hosted the title decider each year going back to 2020.
Sunday afternoon's 312-lap race is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. However, Saturday's qualifying session for the race is set to be shown on Fox Sports 1, not Fox.
NASCAR at Phoenix qualifying on Fox Sports 1
Even for races that are shown on Fox instead of Fox Sports 1 (10 of the 18 during Fox's portion of the broadcast schedule), it is pretty standard for the qualifying session to be shown on Fox Sports 1 instead of Fox.
Saturday's single-car qualifying is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 2:10 p.m. ET. The group qualifying format is set be used because Phoenix Raceway is not a superspeedway.
The results of the most recent race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway determined which drivers are in each of the two groups, and the orders for both groups were determined by a metric involving four variables. A full breakdown of the formula, which was initially introduced in 2020 to set starting lineups in the absence of qualifying, can be found here.
The fastest five drivers in each group advance to the 10-driver shootout for the pole position.
Unlike last year, when the speeds of the drivers outside of the top five in both groups were all stacked up against one another and the rest of the starting lineup was determined using this combined list, NASCAR is now setting the rest of the starting lineup by placing the non-top five drivers from the first group on the outside row and the non-top five drivers from the second group on the inside row.
A full explanation of why the change was made for the 2024 season can be found here.
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