NASCAR explains new nose-out qualifying procedure

Vehicles will no longer back out from the pit wall to begin qualifying sessions. The changes go into effect for all three NASCAR national series, beginning with this weekend’s events for the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series in Fontana, California.

“We are a community in the garage area and we listen to the competitors, the drivers, the crew chiefs, to spotters, to everybody,” Buck said. “Even our officials have input into it. Taking a look at the way we’ve done qualifying, one of the points we’ve gotten feedback on is backing out of the pit stalls on pit road. We did that originally to allow access from the media. They could have a head-on shot to the driver and see them sitting in the car. We’ve progressed to where we now let the media over (the pit wall) during the breaks so they have access to the drivers.

“We had some short-term issues with the ways the teams used cool-down units and the equipment that they connect to the car between sessions, the lengths of it so that the cars needed to be nosed in, but now we’ve had an opportunity to get that feedback from the garage area and from the drivers and the teams and our community, and that we believe we can make an adjustment here and make a positive adjustment to them.”

The knockout-style group qualifying format debuted in the 2014 season, undergoing a handful of evolutions along the way. The way the cars were parked, however, had been a constant from Day 1.

Beginning this weekend, Buck said that all vehicles will be pointed away from the wall, angled toward Turn 1 at the start of each qualifying session, which “will allow the drivers and teams to exit in a normal fashion.” In between qualifying sessions, the two crew members allowed over the pit wall will help guide the vehicle back into proper nosed-out position.

Buck also addressed the at-track inspection process and recent troubles that crews have had in presenting their vehicles to the qualifying grid. NASCAR officials distributed a memo last Thursday saying that teams were subject to 15-minute penalties in practice should their vehicles fail to make it through qualifying inspection after two attempts.

Buck said that NASCAR officials “were able to shave a few minutes here and there” in the weekend schedule to allow for more inspection time, but attributed at least part of the delay to teams and crew chiefs testing the limits and looking for technical loopholes — all against the backdrop of a new mechanical and aerodynamic package for 2015.

“They’re pushing everywhere, and as I said, that’s their job,” Buck said. “I think my take on it personally is, you look at the way we ended last year. You look at the way the Chase was, the entire season and then the way we ended. The intensity level was up, and that pressure from the drivers on track to the crew chiefs making those calls to what we saw even post-race with the emotions spilling over, the intensity is up and this year, it started that way. That’s what I’m seeing.

“The crew chiefs are not leaving anything on the table, but our job is to keep them in check and make sure it’s a level and fair playing field for everybody. We treat everybody the same.”

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