NASCAR updates Cup Series qualifying procedure ahead of 2024 Season

Image from Hendrick Motorsports (via Twitter/X)

    Qualifying procedures for the NASCAR Cup Series will receive an adjustment in 2024, officials revealed Tuesday at the sanctioning body’s Research & Development Center.

For each race, the 36-plus entrants will continue to be split into two groups for time-trial qualification, with the fastest five drivers from each group advancing to the pole round and setting the top ten starting position for the main event. That hasn’t and will not be changed. What will change for this upcoming season is the manner in which positions 11 through 40 are determined.

Previously, the cars that finished outside the top five in the two groups were seeded 11 through 40 based on their fastest qualifying lap, regardless of which group the drivers were in.

Beginning in 2024, with the exception of the Daytona 500, which has its own unique qualifying procedure; cars that do not advance from Group A will determine the outside row for starting positions 11 through 40, while the remaining cars from Group B will determine the inside row.

NASCAR Officials landed upon this alteration after feedback from the industry. As track conditions change throughout the course of a qualifying session, one group may have previously received more optimal grip than the other. The goal of this change is to limit those variances in starting position.