As a sport, NASCAR has been ever-changing. Listening to the fans is something the organizers have prided themselves on over the years. Ahead of the 2024 Cup Series season, it was announced that the qualifying format will be tweaked and it has drawn the attention of several fans and insiders. The reaction has been mixed and recently, Bubba Wallace’s spotter shared his two cents on the changes made to the qualifying format.

The process of determining the top 10 starters of a race is unchanged. The new rules majorly pertain to the drivers starting the race from P11 to P40. Under this, the cars in Group A, that were not part of the top 5 will form the outside row, and the remaining cars from Group B that were outside the top 5 will determine the inside row. However, the procedure will be much more straightforward for superspeedways with the absence of any such groups.

NASCAR insider says that the new qualifying procedure is “not perfect yet”

Speaking on the recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft said that while there is still much work to be done to improve the qualifying process, NASCAR has taken a step in the right direction. Kraft acknowledged that there would be times in the past when cars in either group would be at a disadvantage to the others, depending upon the track and tire conditions.

“Something had to be done, I don’t know where TJ [Majors[ stand on this but Group A was at a pretty big disadvantage in round 1 because it always seemed like the guy that qualified sixth would end up starting outside the top 15 and it would be worse at some places… I remember Richmond was one of them, that was a big sway…just the time of day, track temperature, and whatnot. But then you’d have it swing back the other way where the group 2 guys would be at a disadvantage in the second round because they had just come off the track and the tires did not have the same time to cool down as the guys in group 1,” the veteran spotter said.

Kraft acknowledged that the procedure was not perfect by any means. In all probability, NASCAR will have to make changes even in the new qualifying process based on how things work out this season. It will be interesting to see how the drivers and teams approach the new system. As far as Bubba Wallace’s spotter is concerned, there would not be much of a difference regardless of the drivers’ times, as it would only be one place that would be gained or lost.

Talking about the new system in place, he said, “This at least lines it up to where if you’re the first guy out in the group, then you’re gonna be the first guy out. You’re gonna be starting 11th or 12th whatever it is and so on and so forth. So, it’s probably not perfect yet, but they took a step in the right direction.”

The new qualifying format makes it a bit easier for fans to follow compared to earlier when they had to wait until both rounds concluded to get to know the starting positions. Now, they will be able to compare lap times and determine who is starting where.

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What is the new qualifying format looking like?

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At first, the new format looks a bit confusing but once understood, it is quite simple. Firstly, how are the two groups determined? Well, apart from the Daytona 500, groups A and B will be decided based on the previous race. 5% depends on the fastest lap time, 25% on a driver’s finishing position, 25% on the owner’s finishing position, and 35% on the owner’s points position.

Once the groups are determined, there will be two rounds of qualifying. After the first round, the top 10 drivers will make it into the next and the others’ starting positions will be determined based on their groups and lap times. The top 10 will then fight it out for pole position in the second round of qualifying for the main race. This will be different for superspeedways, as there will be no groups. Just a two-round session with the top 10 fastest drivers making it into round 2 and the others’ starting positions determined by just their lap times.

The idea is still new and, like Freddie Kraft said, not perfect. However, if NASCAR can gradually improve it every year, it won’t be long before the qualifying process becomes good enough for everyone. For now, it will be interesting to see how they implement it after the Daytona 500.

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