NASCAR outlines post-charter qualifying, GWC and points tweaks
NASCAR outlined how the field will be set in qualifying for the Daytona 500 and the rest of the season Thursday afternoon, unveiled a very-slightly modified points system and also explained how green-white-checker finishes will be handled.
With the charter system guaranteeing 36 cars starting spots in the now-40 (down from 43) car field, changes were necessary to the qualifying structure in the Cup Series.
The fastest four non-charter teams in qualifying will make the race (outside the Daytona 500). If qualifying is cancelled for rain reasons, practice speeds determine the four non-charter positions. Owner points will be used if there’s no practice and qualifying.
For the Daytona 500, the front row will still be determined by the two fastest overall cars on Sunday afternoon. Thursday’s Duel races will decide where the 38 other cars start. Non-charter teams can get into the Daytona 500 by being the highest finishing non-charter team in either of the Duel races. The remaining two spots outside of the two highest finishing non-charters and the 36 teams without a charter will be determined from the fastest non-charter teams in Sunday’s front row qualifying who aren’t already in the Daytona 500 field.
The GWC rules will be different in 2016 after the disaster that was the green-white-checker finish at the fall Talladega race. There will be a line at each track past the start-finish line called the “overtime line.”
Last year (except for that Talladega race), the rule was a maximum of three green-white-checker restart attempts to try to finish the race under green flag conditions. Now, the overtime line will determine the number of green-white checker finishes. Here’s how it’s outlined from NASCAR’s release.
After taking the green on the overtime restart, if the leader then passes the overtime line on the first lap under green before a caution comes out (a “clean restart”), it will be considered a valid green-white-checkered attempt. However, if a caution comes out before the leader passes the overtime line on the first lap under green, it will not be considered a valid attempt, and a subsequent attempt will be made. If necessary, multiple subsequent attempts will be made until a valid attempt occurs.
Once a valid attempt is achieved (clean restart), it will become the only attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. If a caution comes out at any time during the valid green-white-checkered attempt, the field will be frozen and the checkered/yellow or checkered/red displayed to cars at the finish line.
Got that? It means there could only be one green-white-checker attempt if there’s a crash past the overtime line on the first lap. Or there could be 10 (highly unlikely) if crashes keep happening before the line. The line’s location is dependent on the length of the track.
The points system largely remains intact from 2015. Winning drivers receive three bonus points and drivers receive a point for leading a lap and a point for leading the most laps. But instead of the points system going 43-1 for 43 cars, it will go 40-1, meaning the 40th-place car will get one point and the 1st place car will get 40 points before bonus points. If the winner of the Daytona 500 leads the most laps, he or she will collect 45 points instead of the 48 points that would have been awarded in 2015 with a 43-car field.
The reduced field size was the perfect opportunity for NASCAR to truly show that winning is important and give winning drivers and teams more bonus points. Though we’ll admit the chances of that opportunity happening were probably limited in the first place.
The Xfinity Series field remains at 40 cars while the Truck Series field is at 32 trucks for every race. The Xfinity Series points will mimic the Cup Series format while the Trucks will be on a 32-1 points format.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
