CONCORD, N.C. – Wednesday afternoon, NASCAR announced that qualifying will see a format change at all oval tracks.
Starting this weekend at Dover International Speedway, qualifying will return to a single-car, single-round format.
At tracks 1.25 miles or shorter, qualifying will consist of two timed single-car laps. At tracks 1.25 miles or longer, the starting order will be determined by one timed single-car lap.
There will no longer be multiple elimination-style rounds in qualifying.
The order in which the cars make their qualifying laps will be determined by the previous week’s starting order.
The top 20 starters from the last race will draw to make their qualifying laps in the second half of the qualifying session – positions 21 through 40 – while the remainder of the cars will draw to qualify in spots one through 20.
The previous group qualifying format will remain in effect at the three road courses on the schedule – Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
At Dover, the first track with the new qualifying format in effect, Hendrick Motorsports owns nine pole positions – the second-most all-time at the track. The organization’s most recent pole there came in 2013 courtesy of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who went on to finish second in the race behind teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Hendrick Motorsports owns an all-time record 20 wins at the track.
Chase Elliott found Victory Lane in the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover last October and is coming off his first win of the year last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
Qualifying at Dover is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET this Friday on FOX Sports 1.