NASCAR lifts hood on rule changes for 2013

• NASCAR unveils rule changes for 2013
• Qualifying order will be determined by lottery system
• Teams can choose four tracks to test at next season

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- NASCAR is going back in time with a series of changes related to qualifying and testing.

Series officials met with Sprint Cup drivers and crew chiefs Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway to detail next year's changes.

They are:

• The top 35 rule, in existence since 2005, will be eliminated. This rule was in place to ensure teams in the top 35 in car owner points (and their sponsors) would be in the race in an era when 50 or more cars were attempting to qualify for races.
• The top 36 positions will be set by qualifying speed with the remaining spots set by provisionals, including a champion's provisional. Provisionals are based on car owner points rankings.
• A random draw will set the qualifying order. The past two seasons, the order was determined by speeds in the first practice session.
• Provisionals for the first three races next year will be based on the final car owner points standings this year instead of the first five races as in previous years.
• Each organization can test at four tracks of its choosing next season where NASCAR competes, the first time teams can do so since 2008. The series' sanctioning body banned testing in 2009, and since then teams could not test at tracks where NASCAR held races, but they could test on other tracks.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, said the previous formats "served a purpose when we were doing other things, (but) we don't do those anymore,'' such as reducing the weekend schedule at an event. Series officials plan to have a practice and qualifying session Fridays and a final practice session Saturdays on weekends the Cup series races on Sundays next season.

Pemberton also said an important change is eliminating the top 35 rule.

"We want the fastest cars to be in the race,'' he said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is encouraged by the changes.

"I like what they're doing and I hope there will be some more changes, go back old school on a couple of other things would be kind of cool,'' he said, although he said he wasn't sure what else he'd try. "Sometimes it's good to make changes.''

Greg Biffle expressed concerns about the random qualifying draw, especially at tracks where the order could determine who is on the pole, such as speedways with night qualifying when it's an advantage to be among the last drivers to qualify, when the track is coolest.

"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,'' he said.

Pemberton said going to a random draw makes practice more efficient because teams were using the first practice to get a good qualifying draw instead of focusing on race practice. Pemberton also noted that "over the course of the year, (teams) will have an equal opportunity to get good draws or bad draws.''

Jeff Burton expressed concerns about NASCAR using the previous car owner points to determine provisionals for only the first three races instead of five.

"I think that's too small of a sample,'' Burton said. "You go to Daytona and do nothing wrong and get in a wreck there and only have two races to make it up. I'm not a fan of that.''

Talladega pole-sitter Kasey Kahne knows what that's like. He finished 29th in the Daytona 500 after an accident and placed 34th at Phoenix after hitting the wall early. That dropped him to 32nd in the points after two races. Had the previous season's car owner points determined provisionals in the first three races this year, Kahne admits it wouldn't have impacted him.

"We were terrible in points and we needed to get out of there and that's all we were working on,'' Kahne said. "I would have raced the exact same way.''

Kahne wouldn't have to worry at many tracks because the number of cars trying to qualify is slightly more than the 43 it takes to fill a field. Should a driver need a provisional or multiple provisionals next year, there won't be a limit. NASCAR, however, plans to limit how a driver can use the champion's provisional.

"You can't just show up'' and use a champion's provisional, Pemberton said.

As for testing, Pemberton said that each organization -- Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing -- can bring two cars per driver. Thus, all four Hendrick drivers could test together and it would count as one test. The difference is that if a track will have a new tire, teams can't test with that tire unless it has been used at another track.