NASCAR has changed the way it is setting starting grids for all national-series races for the remainder of the 2020 season, beginning with the upcoming race weekend at the Daytona International Speedway road course that will culminate in a NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday.
The new method, which uses a formula that includes owner points standings, previous race finishes and fastest laps in the previous, race replaces a method of multiple random drawings. NASCAR has depended on random draws instead of traditional qualifying sessions since a return for a 10-week hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The random draw has served us well during the return to racing, but it is important that starting lineups are based on performance as we approach the playoffs. The entire industry is aligned on implementing a competition-based system to determine the starting lineup and pit selection order.”
In determining starting grids for the rest of the season, finishing positions in the most recent race will account for 50 percent of the equations, and the owner points standings accounting for 35 percent. Drivers’ fastest laps in the most recent race will account for the final 15 percent of the equation.
The owner points standings played a part in the blind draw format for determining starting grids, as the top-12 teams in owner points drew for the top-12 starting positions. Additional drawings were held for the 13th through 24th-place teams and the 25th through 35th-place teams. The final positions on grids were given to open, or non-chartered, teams in order of the owner points standings.
When the playoffs get underway, remaining playoff drivers in each round will start up front, ordered by the new formula.
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