All NASCAR races make use of NASCAR qualifying results to assist determine the starting positions of the vehicles in the race. However, it is not merely as straightforward as that because the starting positions are not only worked out by qualifying results.
Some starting positions are determined by previous results and a team's rank, but in general, the qualifying results have the biggest impact on the starting positions of cars in a NASCAR race.
The starting positions for the qualifying races are determined by the luck of a draw or a series of draws. The order of the runs is from the lowest number to the highest with higher numbers having a slight advantage because the condition of the race track improves with usage. The more frequently it is used the faster the track becomes.
The NASCAR teams send out their cars one at a time based on the numbers that they drew in the random lottery. Each car is allowed a predetermined length of track to get up to speed and as it zooms over the starting line it gets a green flag to signal that the stop watch has been started.
Each car is permitted two laps to establish its speed; the faster time will be its entrance into the qualifiers for the actual starting positions. Drivers have different strategies for these two laps, but one common tactic is to make use of the exterior lane of the track for the first lap.
This allows the car to travel more distance and therefore warm up more. The second lap can then be run along the fastest lines giving a lower qualifying time.
Another approach, albeit a less common one, is to forgo the second lap because it lessens the strain on the car giving it a better chance in the final, actual race. This is a risky approach which not many drivers decide to undertake.
Qualifying results for NASCAR races are based exclusively on the length of time it takes to finish a lap. This clearly has to do with speed, but the actual highest speed over a short distance is not taken into account.
If there is a tie for a place, times are compared down to 0.001 (one-thousandth) of a second. If there is still a tie, then the winner is the driver with the highest number of points in the season thus far.
The media has a tendency to describe racing results in miles per hour (MPH) which is definitely tracked, but it does not establish the winner. The winner is the one with the fastest lap time, which can also be transformed into an overall speed.
Because the media give details of the results in this manner, the general public tends to think that the car reaching the highest MPH will be the winner, but that is incorrect or at least not the whole story.
Sometimes the qualifying rounds have to be cancelled, most often due to very bad weather conditions, then the NASCAR qualifying positions are based on the owner's previous amount of points.
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Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on various topics, but is at present involved with
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