NASCAR’s new aero package for 2019 has turned the series’ group qualifying in a polarizing and chaotic drafting session, and Friday’s final qualifying session at Auto Club Speedway in California ended with one of the most bizarre scenes the sport has seen.
In an effort to improve safety and reduce the likelihood of crashes on pit road, NASCAR mandated this week that all drivers must observe pit road speed in qualifying – which made getting out on track at the right time even trickier. Due to the overwhelming important of the draft during qualifying in 2019, no driver wants to be the first car on track. The field typically bunches up at the end of pit road until the last possible second and attempts to line up with their teammates and drafting partners.
A total of 12 drivers advanced past the second stage of qualifying into the shootout for pole position, and Austin Dillon led the field with a time of 39.982 seconds. When the final five-minute session began, each car left its pit box and drove to the end of pit road, then waited until the final minute to go out on track.
The issue with that strategy? You have to make sure you give yourself enough time on the out-lap to begin a fast lap with time remaining on the clock, and no one made it. Zero qualifying times were counted in the third session, so the starting order reverted to the standings in the second session.
As a result Dillon scored pole position.
[UPDATE:] NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said after qualifying that “tweaks” will be made to the format by the series’ stop at Texas Motor Speedway at the end of the month.
Via NASCAR:
“I think we definitely make some tweaks to it. We really don’t want to go back to single-car qualifying. There may not be another way, but we want to try to exhaust every possibility before we do that because it’s not as fun and not as intriguing of a show as the group situation. We’re going to try to figure out a way to adjust the group qualifying thing and not go back to single, but we’ve got some work to do on that.”
Single-car qualifying may not be as entertaining, but is the only just way to reward the fastest cars in the field. If the objective of qualifying is to determine the true pace of each car, single-car qualifying is really the only option.
