BARBERVILLE, Fla. – With the start of a new World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season comes a few changes to the Outlaws’ longstanding race format.
The primary changes include the following:
– All Last Chance Showdown and qualifying feature events – C-Main, D-Main etc. – will be lined up by heat race finishes instead of qualifying time.
– The two fastest qualifiers that don’t transfer to the A-Feature will line-up on the front row of the Last Chance Showdown.
– The six heat race program has been eliminated. A non-qualifier race will be implemented for nights where more than 48 cars are in attendance.
The full format for the upcoming World of Outlaws sprint car season is below, with changes in bold print:
20 cars or less:
Draw and qualify as normal.
Divide field into two heats lined straight-up by qualifying times – no invert – and the top-two finishers go to a six-car Dash.
Remaining cars go into one non-qualifier race lined-up by their respective heat finishes – no inversion – with the top-two finishers going to the Dash and starting fifth and sixth.
Provisional Dash lined-up by heat and non-qualifier finishes. The first four positions will draw for their starting position.
The Dash finish determines the first three rows of the feature lineup. The remainder of the field will line-up behind the Dash cars by their non-qualifier finish.
The World of Outlaws Tire Rule is waived for the Dash and Non-Qualifier.
21 to 31 cars:
Draw and qualify as normal, with three heat races.
Heat races line up by times – no invert – and the top six finishers transfer to the feature.
The top two in each heat race go to a six-car Dash.
The provisional Dash will line-up by heat race finishes. All Dash participants will then draw for starting positions.
Dash finish determines the first three rows of the feature lineup. The remaining transfer cars line up by their heat race finish behind the Dash cars.
The two fastest qualifiers not making the transfer will start on the front row of the Last Chance Showdown. Other cars not making the transfer line up in the Last Chance Showdown by their heat race finish.
The Last Chance Showdown will be lined up and then the top two moved to the front row. The remaining cars will line up according to World of Outlaws line-up procedures.
The top six Last Chance Showdown finishers transfer to the feature and tag the rear of the field in their Last Chance Showdown finishing order.
If no Last Chance Showdown is run, the remaining cars will line up in the feature behind the Dash cars by their heat race finish.
32 to 37 cars:
Draw and qualify as normal, with four heat races.
Heat races line up by times – no invert – with the top five finishers transferring to the feature.
The top two in each heat race go to the Dash.
The provisional Dash will line up by heat race finishes. All Dash participants will then draw for starting positions.
The dash finish determines the first four rows of the feature lineup. The remaining transfer cars line up by heat race finish behind the Dash cars.
The two fastest qualifiers not making the transfer will start on the front row of the Last Chance Showdown. Other cars not making the transfer line-up in the Last Chance Showdown by their heat race finish.
The Last Chance Showdown will be lined up and then the top two qualifiers that did not transfer will move to the front row. The remaining cars will line-up according to World of Outlaws line up procedures.
The top-four finishers transfer to the feature and tag the rear of the field in their Last Chance Showdown finishing order.
38 to 48 cars:
Draw as normal, with four heat races.
Divide draw into two qualifying flights, with the first half of the draw comprising Qualifying Flight A and the second half of the draw comprising Qualifying Flight B.
If there is an odd number of cars – using 41 as an example – Flight A would have 21 cars and Flight B would have 20 cars.
Flight A qualifies, then Flight B qualifies, which creates a Flight A Qualifying Finish and a Flight B Qualifying Finish.
Heats one and two will line-up by times from Flight A – no invert – with the top-five finishers transferring to the feature.
The top two in both heat race finishes go to the Dash.
Repeat the above steps for Flight B.
The provisional Dash will line-up by heat race finishes, with Flight A cars on the inside lane and Flight B cars on the outside. All Dash participants will then draw for starting positions.
The Dash finish determines the first four rows of the feature lineup.
The remaining transfer cars line-up by heat race finish behind the Dash cars, with Flight A cars on the inside and Flight B cars on the outside.
The fastest qualifier from Flight A & B not making the transfer will start on the front row of the Last Chance Showdown. Heat race finishing positions sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will line-up by heat race finish in the Last Chance Showdown, with Flight A cars on the inside and Flight B cars on the outside.
The Last Chance Showdown and C-Feature will be lined up, and then the top two qualifiers that did not transfer will move to the front of the Last Chance Showdown. The remaining cars will line-up according to World of Outlaws line-up procedures.
The top four Last Chance Showdown finishers transfer to the feature and tag the rear of the field in their Last Chance Showdown finishing order.
Any remaining cars go to the C-Feature or subsequent non-transfer races, and will line-up by their respective heat race finish. The top two finishers of these events tag the rear of the next event by finishing order.
If no C-Feature is run, subsequent cars will line up by finishing position into the Last Chance Showdown (10th, 11th, etc.).
The alternate will be the first Last Chance Showdown non-transfer car.
49 cars or more:
Draw as normal. Four heat races will be held.
Divide the draw into two qualifying flights, with the first half of the draw comprising Qualifying Flight A and the second half of the draw comprising Qualifying Flight B.
If there is an odd number of cars – using 51 as an example – Flight A would have 26 cars and Flight B would have 25 cars.
Flight A qualifies, then Flight B qualifies, which creates a Flight A Qualifying Finish and a Flight B Qualifying Finish.
The top 20 on time line up in heat races one and two from Flight A – no invert – and the top five finishers transfer to the feature.
The top 20 on time will line up heat races three and four by times from Flight B – no invert – and the top five finishers transfer to the Feature.
Cars qualifying 21st or worse in each flight will be put into one non-qualifier race, with Flight A on the inside and Flight B on the outside, straight up by time.
The top four in the non-qualifier race transfer to the back of subsequent heat races (winner to heat one, second to heat two, etc).
The rest transfer to the back of the C-Feature behind heat cars in their non-qualifier finishing positions (fifth starts ninth, sixth starts 10th, etc.).
A D-Feature may be added starting at 52 or more cars in attendance.
There will be one eight-car Dash.
The top two heat race finishers from Flight A and B heats go to the Dash and line-up by their respective heat race finish. All Dash participants will then draw for starting positions.
The Dash finish will set the first eight positions of the of the feature.
The remaining transfer cars line-up by their heat race finishes behind the Dash cars, with Flight A cars placed on the inside lane and Flight B cars placed on the outside lane.
The fastest qualifier from both Flight A and B that did not make the transfer will start on the front row of the Last Chance Showdown.
Heat race finishers of sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth of both Flights A and B go the Last Chance Showdown and line up in their respective lanes by their heat race finish.
The Last Chance Showdown and C-Feature will be lined-up and then the top qualifier of each flight moved to the front of each lane of the Last Chance Showdown.
The remaining cars will line-up according to World of Outlaws line-up procedures.
The top four Last Chance Showdown finishers transfer and tag the rear of the feature in their Last Chance Showdown finishing order.
Cars finishing 10th and 11th in their heat races go to the C-Feature and will line-up by their Heat Race finish.
The top-two finishers in the C-Feature tag the rear of the Last Chance Showdown by their finishing order.
The Alternate will be the first Last Chance Showdown non-transfer car.