DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A potential return to single-car qualifying on drafting-style tracks is being considered after a second controversial qualifying session over the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Two weeks after a messy final round for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway, where none of the 12 drivers completed a timed lap for the pole, Texas featured more waiting games on pit road – even after a NASCAR rules bulletin was issued with the intent of stopping such efforts.
NASCAR Executive Vice President and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell weighed in on the matter during his weekly appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive on Monday.
“We’re going to look at every option, including the possibility of going to single-car qualifying,” O’Donnell said. “The reason we haven’t is that’s on the teams. That’s parts and pieces. We’ve tried to be as efficient as possible trying this method of (group) qualifying.
“But we’re definitely going to look at it and see what we can do. We’ve got a couple of weeks to do that. We’ll make adjustments as needed.”
According to NASCAR, such a change would only happen on intermediate-style tracks where the draft can play a key factor in a driver’s lap time, and not at short tracks like Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway or Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
While NASCAR already uses single-car qualifying at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where the Cup Series will visit on April 28, it could become the new norm at Kansas Speedway on May 11.
Kansas, similar to Texas, could see drafting come into play at its 1.5-mile oval under the current format.
NASCAR’s biggest frustrations have come due to the fact that this year’s low-horsepower, high-downforce package creates a much larger wake behind a car, allowing the trailing car to get a run in the draft. As such, teams have waited on pit road in an effort to not be the first car on-track in a round.
Those long periods of inactivity have created disappointment and calls for change from the fan base, something NASCAR has heard and seen.
“It’s really unfortunate for the fans,” O’Donnell said Monday. “It’s miraculous that Daniel Suarez is able to make a lap on his own and qualify fourth, so I don’t know how that’s possible based on all the data the teams seem to be putting together to sit on the end of pit road and wait.”
Clint Bowyer was frustrated with NASCAR on Friday after feeling that he was impeded by Ryan Newman on pit road, however, Newman’s place in the incident was explained on Monday by O’Donnell.
“I think the one clarification on our end, we instructed (Newman) to move,” O’Donnell noted. “He did that. I think Clint Bowyer could have gotten out and gotten past (Newman), but regardless of that, the optics of what is taking place with the teams is not tenable for us with the fans.”
Asked if he was personally angered by the games that have taken place in qualifying lately, O’Donnell was direct in his response.
“Absolutely. I think it’s ridiculous, candidly,” he said. “I know the drivers did not like this qualifying before the season. Part of you says, ‘Are we doing this on purpose to get rid of it?’ I know it can be done. I know we have the best drivers in the world and crew chiefs to figure it out. We seem to want to out-do each other, and that results in sitting on pit road.
“We’ll react to it. We’ll make the right call and get it right. We don’t want to see cars sitting on pit road for eight minutes. That’s not NASCAR racing. We’ll make the fix there.”
Many car owners have lobbied against a return to single-car qualifying from a cost standpoint, but O’Donnell implied that the bigger concern is creating a positive show for the fans at this juncture.
“If we have to go back to single car, simple,” he said. “We’ll do that. It won’t be popular with some of the owners, but unfortunately, we’re getting put in this position.”