NASCAR: Surprise rule change causes major confusion at Nashville

NASCAR implemented a mid-season rule change to Cup Series qualifying last week ahead of the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but that rule change was only officially debuted this Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, as qualifying for last weekend's USA Today 301 was rained out.

NASCAR still divides drivers up into two groups based on a four-variable metric that has been used since 2020. A full breakdown of that formula, which involves driver points, owner points, most recent result, and most recent fastest lap, can be found here.

The top five drivers in each group advance to the second round shootout for the pole position. Prior to 2024, the speeds of the drivers who did not advance were all stacked up against one another to determine the remainder of the starting lineup.

Starting this year, the drivers in the first group who do not advance line up on the outside lane, starting with row six in 12th place, and the drivers in the second group who do not advance line up on the inside lane, starting with row six in 11th.

This change was made to avoid giving drivers an advantage by being in one group over the other, given the potential for changes in track conditions from group to group.

However, the second round had simply been a 10-driver shootout, with the drivers ultimately filling out the first five rows based on their speeds from that second round. The fastest driver took the pole position, the second fastest driver took the other front row starting spot, the third fastest driver lined up third, and so on.

But NASCAR opted to make the second round group-based as well.

The five drivers from the first group go out first, in reverse order of their round one speeds, and then the five drivers from the second group go out, also in reverse order of their round one speeds.

Overall, the fastest driver still takes the pole position, but he is the only driver guaranteed to qualify where his overall speed indicates. The polesitter gets lane choice, and the fastest driver in the other group, even if he is only sixth fastest overall, lines up on the opposite side of the front row.

The remaining drivers from the first group fill out the outside lane from rows two to five, fourth through 10th place, and the remaining drivers from the second group fill out the inside lane from rows two to five, third through ninth.

As a result, here is the top 10 for Sunday's 300-lap Ally 400 around the four-turn, 1.333-mile (2.145-kilometer) Lebanon, Tennessee oval.

1st - Denny Hamlin
2nd - Josh Berry
3rd - Christopher Bell
4th - Kyle Larson
5th - Brad Keselowski
6th - Tyler Reddick
7th - William Byron
8th - Ty Gibbs
9th - Chris Buescher
10th - Austin Cindric

Here is what the top 10 would have been if the lineup had been determined strictly by speed, like it used to be.

1st - Denny Hamlin
2nd - Christopher Bell*
3rd - Josh Berry*
4th - Kyle Larson
5th - Tyler Reddick*
6th - Brad Keselowski*
7th - William Byron
8th - Ty Gibbs
9th - Chris Buescher
10th - Austin Cindric

*different lineup under new format

In fact, even one of the NBC announcers said that Berry qualified third during a post-qualifying interview, but because of the rule change, he really qualified second, despite the fact that he posted the third fastest overall speed in the second round.

But overall, the rule change does makes sense, and it falls in line with the pre-season rule change to the opening round format. NBC (USA Network) also did a fantastic job presenting a modified graphic on-screen to illustrate the change as the second round was unfolding on Saturday afternoon.

Full Ally 400 qualifying results can be found here.

Tune in to NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 30 for the live broadcast of the Ally 400 from Nashville Superspeedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!