Group Qualifying for Road Courses

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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Sprint Cup implements group qualifying for road courses. Bravo. ->

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will implement the group-based road course qualifying procedure used in NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Touring Series competition during its road-course events at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Under the new procedure, cars will qualify in groups instead of the traditional single-car qualifying runs held on oval race tracks.

“The change will add an exciting element to road-course qualifying,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “Fans will be treated to new strategy and increased competition with several cars on track at once.”

The new qualifying rules for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at road courses are as follows:

· Cars attempting to qualify will be divided into groups. The number of groups, and amount of cars in each, will depend on the number of cars that practice for the event.
· Group assignments will be based on final practice times.
· Each qualifying group will be on-track for a set period of time, determined by the Series Director.
· A car’s best lap time during the group session will be the qualifying lap time of record.
· A group’s time begins when the first car receives the green flag at the start/finish line.

“This is going to be a terrific new format for our NASCAR weekend,” said Steve Page, president and general manager of Sonoma Raceway. “It will intensify the action, with multiple cars on the track at the same time. It’s a very positive development for our fans.”

“The new format of qualifying at Watkins Glen International enhances the fan experience which is our top priority,” said Michael Printup, president of Watkins Glen. “Qualifying on Saturday for our Cheez-ItTM 355 at The Glen is even more of a not-to-be missed aspect of a weekend of high-quality racing.”
 
More changes :( , what was the reason again? To make Andy happy? Good luck with that.:D
 
I was about to post about this, but then I saw someone had. Sounds good with me!
 
They could eliminate qualifying and the whole race on road courses and I wouldn't be that crushed. But I know a lot of fans like the road courses, and I'm a team player, so I can live with it.:)
 
Nitro Dude said:
They could eliminate qualifying and the whole race on road courses and I wouldn't be that crushed. But I know a lot of fans like the road courses, and I'm a team player, so I can live with it.:)
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If they did that then Montoya and Ambrose's careers would be over. I would like to see Montoya gone -- Amborse, not so much.
 
Great! Now there will be more crashes during qualifying and all the "fans" will complain that all NASCAR is doing is tearing up more cars. It does sound like a good idea. It's usually a waste of money to broadcast qualifying on tv because I'd assume not many people actually watch it.
 
Speaking of Ambrose, he does pretty well on a 1.5s. Hes not a bad driver. Montoya.. eh... he did alright for a year or two but hasnt made any improvement. As far the actual topic of this thread, I think its fine. I dont really think there will be much difference in anything. Its hard to make qualifying entertaining, and doesnt really need to be anyway IMO
 
The new qualifying procedure for Cup sounds okay, I guess. Do they stagger the cars within each group or are they running together in the group? I know they've been doing this in Nationwide but I haven't really watched their qualifying sessions. If they're staggered then really how much more exciting can it be than if they were out there by themselves?
 
Great move. Now if they'd do two cars at a time at tracks like Pocono, Michigan, and California.
 
FLRacingFan said:
A group’s time begins when the first car receives the green flag at the start/finish line.

Based on that I think it will be staggered, but I don't see anything for sure.
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That's kinda the way I read it too. That is why I am asking what makes this so much more interesting. I'm not sure what a lap time is at Watkins Glen. I'll use two minutes as an example. So now NASCAR can put four cars out there on the track 30 seconds apart from each other and let them qualify. I'm still not getting it. And I had my coffee this morning. I have to be missing something here.
 
It looks like a variation of the open wheel format. It should be good unless someone has a "boys have at" moment.
 
i like it ! qualify races may be mo excitin than actual race !

same deal at long beach--irl last week....was good viewin.
 
ted@economy said:
It's going to be exactly the same as before, with less banter , and it won't take as long to see who got the pole. Good grief.
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ted--i believe they'll get mo than 1 lap...like before....several laps....ta post better time. we'll see.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Why not?

Run four 25 lap or 25 mile (depending on the track length) heat races and cut the actual race distance by 100 laps or miles. Much better show, all around, for the fans.
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Cut the race by 100 laps or miles???
I'm not a fan of cutting race laps to accommodate more qualifying.
Not a better show for this particular fan. I like racing not qualifying. That format would alter and take away from actual race strategy. It's already a challenge to build a motor that will produce maximum horsepower and still survive an entire 400-500 mile race. Heat cycling the motor between heats would decrease reliability.
 
BobbyFord said:
Cut the race by 100 laps or miles???
I'm not a fan of cutting race laps to accommodate more qualifying.
Not a better show for this particular fan. I like racing not qualifying. That format would alter and take away from actual race strategy. It's already a challenge to build a motor that will produce maximum horsepower and still survive an entire 400-500 mile race. Heat cycling the motor between heats would decrease reliability.
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Sounds to me like the Fords can't hang :D
 
You're talking about practice, plus heat races plus main events. Or are you suggesting that they eliminate practice altogether and just run the heat races? :confused:
 
ted@economy said:
It's going to be exactly the same as before, with less banter , and it won't take as long to see who got the pole. Good grief.
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I think you're probably correct. I've still never really got an answer but these cars are probably going to be staggered on the course so that they don't interfere with one another. I'm not sure how that translates to excitement. I'm still missing something here.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I think you're probably correct. I've still never really got an answer but these cars are probably going to be staggered on the course so that they don't interfere with one another. I'm not sure how that translates to excitement. I'm still missing something here.
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The cars HAVE to be staggered to avoid interference . Can you imagine if one team sent a fourth car out to interfere with a top car ? Can you say rollerderby ? And I don't see many q sesssions where a second lap does any good. Cars are fastest when tires are new.
 
ted@economy said:
The cars HAVE to be staggered to avoid interference . Can you imagine if one team sent a fourth car out to interfere with a top car ? Can you say rollerderby ? And I don't see many q sesssions where a second lap does any good. Cars are fastest when tires are new.
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That's exactly what I thought. So my question is..... How does this form of qualifying make things more exciting? I don't get it.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
That's exactly what I thought. So my question is..... How does this form of qualifying make things more exciting? I don't get it.
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How many times have they overhyped things this year? Whoever is doing their press this year is not doing Nascar any favors. They seem to sensationalize every announcement then reality can't live up to it.
 
It's about time they do this.

Now reduce RP qualifying to 1 lap. (I don't care if they cars aren't at full speed yet. If it takes over 2.5 miles to get up to full speed then too bad)
 
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