NASCAR continues to refine qualifying rules

By Thomas Chemris - Motorsport.com

NASCAR officials have announced that effective the July 20th weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway there will be no more two-lap qualifying runs on tracks that are one mile or larger.

Running only one lap will greatly reduce the amount of time of the qualifying process, something that will benefit both the teams and the television networks.

The exceptions to the new rule are the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega, the logic being that it takes a full lap with a restrictor plate to have a car brought up to speed.

Previously drivers have been allowed to take two laps at all racing facilities, allowing the teams to use the faster of the two.

NASCAR has been systematically changing their qualifying rules since 1998.

After its fiftieth anniversary, NASCAR put a limit of five provisionals for former champions, after many felt Darrell Walltrip abused the rule to guarantee a starting spot for his team.

During the 2000 season standard issue springs were incorporated for super speedways.

New for this year, the sanctioning body eliminated second-day qualifying, citing that changing track conditions made it impossible for teams to improve on times, and it was more difficult for teams that were not locked in to prepare for their race set up.

It is speculated that within the year that the qualifying rules will be again modified, to eliminate qualifying motors, further leveling the field for teams who can not afford to develop their own qualifying engine programs.