NASCAR revises superspeedway qualifying

NASCAR has announced another revision to its new procedure for superspeedway qualifying in the Sprint Cup and XFinity Series after the crash-marred session at the Daytona 500.

Superspeedway qualifying has been a contentious issue since NASCAR abandoned its previous single-car format for a group knockout system last year. Due to the importance of drafting to a fast lap on the large tracks, drivers held back in the pits to try to avoid running in the slowest position at the front of the pack, resulting in farcical last-minute scrambles and random results.

The chaos then escalated at Daytona when a multicar pile-up in qualifying put some drivers' participation in the 500 in doubt, leading to the system being branded "idiotic" by Clint Bowyer.

For the next superspeedway race at Talladega in May, the format will be tweaked so that cars run one at a time again, although it will not revert completely to the old single-car format as drivers will be released from the pitlane at regularly spaced intervals rather than having the track entirely to themselves.

Cars will run in a randomized order in first qualifying, with the top 12 from the first session going through to a pole shootout in which they will take to the track in reverse order of opening-session results.

The format will also be employed for the July Daytona race, but NASCAR said it was yet to decide whether it would be kept for next year's 500.

Originally on Autosport.com