What You Need To Know About Next Year's Rule Changes
An Opinion
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October 21, 2012
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
This week NASCAR announced that it would be revising several rules for 2013 that teams and fans alike have been calling for in recent years.
The good news is, the rules put many things back closer to the way they “used to be”.
The bad news -- fans and drivers will have a harder time complaining about testing and qualifying rules making things unfair for everyone. (Not that I think they won’t for a moment find new things to complain about -- they always do!)
For those that haven’t seen or heard about the new changes, a brief synopsis:
First the new version of qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
For the last seven years, the top 35 cars have been locked into each race based on their owners’ points. Beginning next year at the Daytona 500, only seven cars will be guaranteed a spot. The first 36 cars in any given race will have to qualify there on speed.
After those 36 positions are set during qualifying, the next six highest ranking cars in owners points that have not already earned a starting position through qualifying. The final spot will be awarded to the most recent eligible past champion driver. If there is no eligible past champion driver, then a seventh car will make the field based upon owners’ points.
Those last seven positions will be lined up not by speed, but by owners’ points. Unlike years past when a driver could only use so many provisionals over the course of the season, there will be no limit to the number of times they may use owners points or a past championship to get into those final seven spots if they don’t make the race on speed.
This move essentially puts qualifying back solely in the drivers hands and takes away their safety net of being locked in because they are in the top 35 in points.
As for how the cars will qualify, gone will be setting the order by how you practice. Instead we will return to a random draw. However, in the event qualifying is canceled due to rain, the field will be set per the rule book and the starting lineup will continue to be determined by practice speeds.
“This is a big win for our fans,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “They’ll see the fastest cars earn their starting spots. This change adds intrigue, drama and excitement to qualifying.”
“The changes to the NASCAR qualifying procedures will add intrigue, suspense and excitement to the Budweiser Duel At Daytona,” noted Joie Chitwood III, president of Daytona International Speedway. “The new qualifying procedures will place a greater emphasis on the finishing order of the Budweiser Duel At Daytona, which determines the starting lineup for the Daytona 500. We expect the changes to produce incredible racing action throughout the field as drivers attempt to qualify for the sport’s biggest, richest and most prestigious race of the season.”
Additionally, provisional positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be based upon the previous year’s owner points for the first three races, as opposed to the first five races in previous years.
The “big one” at Daytona now has an even bigger impact than it has in the past in possibly determining whether a driver will be able to make the race early in the season if they have a bad qualifying effort.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, is happy about the upcoming changes next season. “I think those are all good changes. As you go into Daytona, you see things get mixed up for the qualifying races, just having the top 35 rule go away, if somebody shows up and qualifies good. I think with the qualifying draw, it really adds some drama back into the qualifying order just for the fact if you get a bad draw, you qualify 20th, you're going to have the fastest car in the back or the middle of the field.”
He added “I think it opens the door for new people to come in and make the races, make that little bit easier than locking the top 35 cars in.”
Another big change next season is in the testing process. For the last three years, teams have not been allowed to test at tracks where they also race. This has meant a lot of testing at tracks like Virginia International Raceway, and until this year, Rockingham Speedway, but has also made it very challenging for teams to make sure they had their cars set up properly for a race on race weekend when they didn’t have specific notes about the actual track to work off of.
Beginning next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, there will be up to four tests per organization available to teams at tracks at which the series competes. In the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, there will be up to two tests per organization at tracks where those series compete. If the organization has an official Sunoco Rookie of Year candidate, then that team will receive one additional test. Additionally, NASCAR will open track activity early for extended practice at two additional events per series, to be determined.
Finally, there will be a decrease in the number of cars that will race in the Nationwide Series in 2013. Through this year, there have been the same number of cars -- 43 -- as compete in the Sprint Cup Series. Next year, three spots will go away, and only 40 cars will compete each weekend.
“We feel to strengthen the ownership base, we really feel it's best served for us to reduce that field to 40 cars, and therefore it gives us an opportunity to put what we feel is a better quality field of cars in play at those Nationwide events,” explained Pemberton.
“I kind of like the idea of having 43 in Cup and then 40 in Nationwide, and I think it's 36. It kind of creates a tier,” commented Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Light Dodge for Penske Racing and current Sprint Cup championship points leader. “I don't think it's going to really hurt anybody, and I don't think anyone will even really notice after it's done.”
So, why take what appears to be a step back in rules after all of these years?
“Times change. We have to change with those. To go back and make the field the fastest 36 to get in the race, six provisionals and a champ's spot, we feel that's good,” explained Pemberton. “We feel opening the testing up where teams can go across the country and test at tracks we race at, we feel it's good for the teams but it's also good at the tracks that they have some action going on throughout the year as the teams move around the country testing.”
And that is really what all of this is about. Not just what is good for the teams or the tracks, but for the fans as well. Fans have been clamoring for a return to the way things “used to be”, and now, in several ways, they are getting just that. There is no more being “guaranteed” a starting spot per say, unless you are the most recent Champion. Going fast in qualifying is now a huge priority if you want to be there on race day, especially in the Nationwide series where there will be three fewer spots each weekend.
I don’t know about you, but I am excited to see how things pan out next season with these new rules.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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