NASCAR: What's the qualifying procedure for starting grid positions?

May be...

Qualifying procedure when rained out:

Top 35 in owner's points
Team with driver who won during current season
Winning driver from current season not in top 35
Past series champion (most recent first)
Number of team attempts (ties go to driver highest in points)

The Coke Zero 400 was the first race I have watched, and I realise that qualifying was rained off and grid positions decided by driver standings. But I don't know how the qualifying normally works.

Please only answer if you genuinely want to educate me. Don't bother if you want to stone me for being an F1 fan.

Normally (except for the Daytona 500) qualifying is done as the best of 2 laps with one driver on the course at a given time. Only on road courses is it that 1 lap.

In the case of the Daytona 500 (NASCAR's Monaco GP if you will) is the qualifying procedure different.
One week before the 500 there is the same (as I mentioned above) qualifying procedure but in this case it only locks the front row. On the Thursday before the 500 there are the Gatorade Duel qualifying races to lock in the other 41 competitors.

Two timed laps around the track. Fastest one gets the pole. Slowest ones are out. There are certain ways to get into the race

1. Fastest Lap (Only Works for the Worst Drivers who are on part-time rides)

2. Owner Points: How many sprint cup drivers make it in

3. Past Championship: Nicknamed the "Darrell Waltrip Rule", because that's how he got into the race in the late 90s.

If there are any others let me know.

Don't worry about being an F1 fan in the Nascar section. I get stoned for it occasionally myself. But remember it works both ways. Nascar fans get stoned by F1 fans.

Each team has a representative draw a number for qualifying order. Each car gets two laps with the best one counting as your time. The cars outside the top 35 go at the end of the session.

Qualifying is not that important in Nascar like it is in F1. The races are longer. It's easy to pass. And you have many chances to catch up as there are many cautions. Qualifying also determines the order in which you pick your pit stall which is perhaps more important than starting position. 3 or 4 drivers have won a race this year from the back of the pack.

for starters, the top 35 in owner points are guaranteed to make the race. let's say there are 47 cars qualifying for the 43 starting spots, since the top 35 are already in, that means the other 12 cars, the 'go or go homers' as they're called, are qualifying for the remaining 8 spots. the top 35 qualify first, then the go or go homers qualify after them. now if a go or go homer qualifies ahead of a top 35 car, as often happens, he gets that starting spot, but he cannot bump a top 35er out of the race. so the fastest 8 of the 12 go or go homers make the race, starting in whatever position they qualify in, they don't necessarily start behind the top 35 cars, in other words, and the other 4 cars go home.

If you are in the top 35 in owners' points you do not have to qualify. The other guys have to compete against each other, the 8 fastest of them getting to start. As far as starting positions, that is determined by speed. The fastest car gets the pole, etc. In addition, the better position in which you start, the better pit box selection you will have.

What they said.



GO 24!!!!

timed laps with extra soft tyers

The top 35 in the driver standings are locked in and qualify first through a "blind" draw. The remaining spots in the field are then filled through qualifying and - if applicable - any driver who uses a "past champion's provisional" to gain entry into the race. Fields have 43 drivers and the number of cars qualifying each week can vary dramatically.

The top 35 draw for qualfying order. They run 1, sometimes 2 timed laps. Fastest lap gets the pole. Know it all explained the "go or go home" cars pretty good. Here's a link from Jayski that goes into all that and the champion provisional toopdf ipaq