DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR has announced the how the starting lineups will be set and how pit stalls will be chosen for upcoming NASCAR events that will be held without practice or qualifying.
When the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action on Sunday, March 17 at Darlington Raceway, the starting lineup will be set via random draw. The position of the random draw will be set by the team’s position in owner points.
Positions 1-12 will be set by a random draw from teams in those positions in the owner points. The same will be done for positions 13-24 and 25-36. Positions 37-40 will be filled out by non-charted teams in order of owner points.
The next event, slated for May 20 at Darlington, will use the finishing order from the race on May 17 as the basis for a pair of inversions. First, the top-20 finishers from the race on May 17 will be inverted, so the driver who finished 20th on May 17 will start on the pole for the race on May 20.
Secondly, positions 21-40 will be inverted, so the driver who finished 40th on May 17 will start 21st in the May 20 event. Any new entries who did not compete on May 17 will start at the rear of the field.
Pit selection for the race on May 17 will be done via charter team owner points, followed by open team owner points. Finishing position from the race on May 17 will be used to determine pit selection for the race on May 20.
The starting order for the races at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24 and May 27 will be set in two different ways. The Coca-Cola 600 field will be set via qualifying while the field for the race on may 27 will be set by inversions of 1-20 and 21-40 from the Coca-Cola 600 results.
Pit selection for the Coca-Cola 600 will be determined via qualifying, with pit selection on May 27 determined by results from the Coca-Cola 600.
NASCAR also announced a modified competition caution procedure that will be utilized beginning at Darlington Raceway. Each event will have a modified competition caution early in each race. Fields will be frozen to allow for longer pit stops so teams can make more expansive in-race adjustments that they may typically make in practice.
NASCAR will grant the first car one lap down a free pass back on the lead lap and there will be no wave arounds during the competition caution. The top-20 in the field will pit first, with the next 20 pitting on the following lap.
Each car will maintain its position on pit road as long as it beats the pace car off pit road. Teams that do not beat the pace car off pit road will lose a lap and be forced to restart at the tail. Any teams that pit more than twice or outside of their assigned pit window will also start at the tail. The lineup will then be reset based on the running order prior to the restart.
The competition caution for the NASCAR Cup Series race on May 17 will take place on lap 30. The Xfinity Series race on May 19 will feature a competition caution on lap 15.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will each use random draws to help determine starting lineups for their upcoming events that will be run without qualifying.
In the Xfinity Series, starting positions 1-12 will be drawn at random by teams in those positions in the owner points. The same will be done with positions 12-24 and 25-36, with positions 37-40 determined by a team’s position in owner points or based on their order of eligibility.
Pit selection for the Xfinity Series race at Darlington will be based on qualifying from the event on March 7 at Phoenix Raceway. That gives the first pit selection to the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will set the field for the May 26 event at Charlotte Motor Speedway using a similar manner. Teams in positions 1-10 in owner points will draw for those starting positions, with positions 11-21, 22-32 and 33-40 being set the same way. Any new teams in the final group will draw last.
Much like the Xfinity Series, pit stall selection for the May 26 Truck Series event will be determined by the qualifying results from the series’ last race on Feb. 21 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 13 ThorSport Racing entry of Johnny Sauter will have the first pick.