CONCORD, N.C. -- On Wednesday, NASCAR officials broke down the formatting for qualifying and the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway later this month.
NASCAR announced in February that four heat races will be used to determine the starting lineup for the dirt race. The starting order for the four heat races will be determined by a random draw. Each heat race will be 15 laps each with no overtime rule. This means only the green laps will be counted and the free pass and wave around procedures will be used.
One of the biggest adjustments - and a nod to traditional dirt racing - is the implementation of passing points during the heat races. Drivers will earn points in the heat races based on finishing position and passing points, which are markers that are the difference between a driver's starting position and finishing position.
Drivers will earn passing points by finishing ahead of their starting position. They will earn no passing points if they finish in the same starting position or lower. If there is a tie, owners points will serve as the tiebreaker.
“Well, I think it’s special rules for obviously quite a different event than we’ve ever done in the Cup Series, but we really wanted to just kind of take a page out of the dirt-track racing playbook,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “They do and use these type of procedures to set the field for their main events, so we thought it would be something different for us and interesting to implement for this one.”
The starting positions for the marquee event will be determined by the finishing positions from the heat races and passing points.
The dirt race will be 250 laps broken down into three stages. The first stage will end on Lap 75, the second on Lap 150 and the last 100 laps will make up the final segment of the race.
Stage breaks are the only times drivers and their teams can perform non-competitive pit stops. The positions of the field will be frozen and teams will be allowed to change tires, make adjustments and get fuel. NASCAR will release a designated time that crews must adhere to when it comes to completing their adjustments. The choose rule will be omitted from this race, as well.
The dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be March 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The event marks the first Cup Series dirt race since 1970.