NASCAR has extended practice time for all three national divisions and eliminated two-round qualifying for most tracks on the schedule as part of a weekend format adjustment announced on Thursday.
- Group practice goes from 20 to 25 minutes.
- Single-round qualifying at every track except for superspeedways, which will still implement a final round of time trials for the fastest 10 cars.
- Starting position based solely on qualifying results, rather than row-by-row designations according to qualifying group.
Qualifying will consist of single-lap time trials at most tracks. At short tracks, the best of two laps will be the time of record, and road courses will have group qualifying with multiple cars on the track for 20-minute sessions.
NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran said this was the result of industry feedback.
“I think it’s going to be welcomed by the industry,” Moran said. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback throughout the year, and we made a couple of adjustments through the year, and we really wanted to take a whole fresh look at it. A lot of this came into play back in COVID, when we tightened things up, so we’re kind of going back a little to what we used to do again. We’re going to have a little more practice, which is obviously better for the fans and the partners.”
Standard practice and qualifying
25-minute practice each for Group 1 and Group 2
Groups will be determined by metrics (70% based on previous race finish by owner; 30% based on owner points position. The best scoring cars in metrics will be placed in Group 2)
Qualifying: One lap, one round
Tracks: Las Vegas, Phoenix (spring), Miami, Darlington, Texas, Kansas, Charlotte oval, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono, WWT Raceway, New Hampshire
Short track practice and qualifying
25-minute practice each for Group 1 and Group 2
Qualifying: Two laps, one round
Tracks: Martinsville, Bristol, Dover, Iowa, Richmond, North Wilkesboro (Trucks), Lucas Oil IRP (Trucks)
Superspeedway qualifying
No practice, except for a 50-minute pre-qualifying session at Daytona 500
Qualifying: One lap, two rounds
Fastest 10 cars in opening round advance to final round
Starting positions 1-10 will be based on finish in final round; remainder of field will start based on qualifying results in first round
Tracks: Atlanta, Talladega, Daytona (summer)
Road course practice and qualifying
25-minute practice each for Group 1 and Group 2
20-minute qualifying each for Group 1 and Group 2, multiple cars on track
One round of qualifying
Tracks: Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Charlotte Roval, Portland (Xfinity), COTA (Xfinity, Trucks; Cup Series will have expanded practice procedures)
Expanded practice weekends
Weekends scheduled to have separate practice and qualifying sessions:
Cup: The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Daytona 500, COTA*, All-Star Race, Mexico City, Indianapolis, Phoenix championship
Xfinity: Daytona, Rockingham, Mexico City, Indianapolis, WWTR, Phoenix championship