NASCAR wants to bring pit stops into the picture while tweaking its current metric.
A major complaint among NASCAR fans this year before races started was the qualifying metric used by NASCAR this season. It is a rather complex procedure that determines the order in which cars go out for qualifying, and very often, it decides the outcome of the qualifying session if Saturday is washed out by rain. The qualifying metric in question is calculated using the previous race results and the owner's standings in the NASCAR championship.
It is divided into a 70:30 ratio, wherein the driver's starting position is based on 70 percent of the previous round's results and 30 percent of the team's championship standings. This metric came into play in a rather important fashion during the NASCAR Chase. The first few races of the Chase this year did not complete qualifying, as Saturday faced heavy rain. Owing to the same, NASCAR used its metric to decide the final spots on the starting grid for all Chase drivers. Due to this, many Chase drivers faced a massive setback in the initial few races. The metric was then called out as unfair and gave NASCAR a heavy headache.
NASCAR Is Willing to Experiment in a Few Races Next Year
It is quite evident that the qualifying metric and its criticism are something NASCAR can't ignore anymore. Due to the issue that they faced in the opening stage of the Chase this year, NASCAR is willing to simplify it into something that can be easily understood and calculated by the audience and the teams involved. Talking to the media recently, NASCAR's John Probst shared his view on the matter.
“Certainly, I would say that a lot of the work that we did on the metric where we take your finish the week before and add that to your owner's position serves a good purpose for qualifying. I think when we look at it and when we see how it happened this year, I think four of our six get rained out for qualifying. Then, you start to see some of the potential unfairness in how it was going to lay out when we did the wet weather lineup that way. So what we are going to do in 2027 is line them up by owner's points.”
Moreover, Probst also teased the idea of adding pit stops to qualifying procedures for some of the races next year. He says that NASCAR wants to eliminate the burden from drivers' shoulders during qualifying and bring in the team game, where the pit crew can also play a good role. It is not guaranteed yet, but the All-Star qualifying format has given NASCAR a new idea, and they want to try it out for the next season.