NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Top 35 Rule Dead?
NASCAR will put more emphasis on speed in qualifying next year…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 06, 2012   Talladega, AL
Denny Hamlin, (Left) poses with Miss Coors Light, Rachel Rupert,(Right) and the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Within the next 10 days or so, NASCAR will announce new qualifying procedures for the Sprint Cup Series in 2013, a NASCAR official confirmed Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Currently, cars in the top 35 in owner points are guaranteed starting spots in races, regardless of qualifying speed. Next year, NASCAR is expected to put more emphasis on speed, perhaps allowing teams a limited number of provisional spots.

Sprint Cup teams were briefed on the new plan Saturday morning at Talladega, with NASCAR expected to have additional discussions in the next few days.

It is expected that the top 36 spots in the field for each race will be set solely on speed, with six spots going to the teams highest in owner points who weren’t fast enough to make it into the race on speed alone. The final spot if necessary, will go to the most recent past series champion.

Qualifying order will be set by random draw. Thus, the process will revert to what it was through the end of the 2004 season.

At the start of the 2005 season, NASCAR starting locking in the cars in the top 35 in owner points, guaranteeing they would always make each race if they were high enough in points.

Five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson said that setting the qualifying order by random draw will help teams manage their tire strategy better.

“I thought the random draw for qualifying was — and so did a few other drivers — thought that what we have today is a little better and you actually go out and earn that spot,” said Johnson.

“The discussion opened and we talked about things and NASCAR wants to make the change. And it is tough to utilize your tire allotment as we try to go out and earn our starting spot and I think that’s what NASCAR is trying to get away from. We only get so many sets of tires and we need to use the full opportunity to use those tires up. Right now we are ending practice with two sets of stickers and we only have one qualifying run on them. It will help us use our tires more and let the teams not worry about exceeding themselves and go out there and use your tires.”

Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle said he wasn’t too happy about the random draw.

“I can see where some of it could make it a little bit more thrilling – who is gonna miss the race and go home that day,” said Biffle. “The qualifying draw being random, a lot of drivers are not completely on board with that theory simply because qualifying is becoming so important and track position is so important everywhere we go, especially when you get to the Chase, that if you get an early qualifying draw – qualify fifth at Charlotte for the night race – you’re not gonna be in the top 15 or 20 probably – even the fastest car. So it’s a huge penalty for the random draw for where you’re gonna go out, but if that’s what fans want to see or what they want to do, then we’re on board with it.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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