O'Donnell: More qualifying tweaks coming

NASCAR officials have made several tweaks to the knockout-style group qualifying format since its advent in the 2014 season, but the parking method in the idle time before qualifying sessions had endured. The orientation was first determined in part to allow media better access to the drivers; officials have since allowed media members over the pit wall during breaks in group qualifying.

“We did that initially working with everybody that, you guys and the TV partners in terms of access to the drivers,” O’Donnell told SiriusXM. “As we’ve gone through it, we’ve learned some different things so we won’t have the cars back in. We’ll send a memo out to the teams this week where we tweak it.”

O’Donnell said the logistics of placing cool-down units and other equipment within reach of the vehicles and crews also was in development.

“As with anything, we keep learning,” O’Donnell told SiriusXM. “If we can make it better we will, and it’s just another slight adjustment as we head into California.”

Officials informed NASCAR teams of the impending alterations last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. Not everyone was receptive to the change, O’Donnell joked.

“I heard a great line from Michael Waltrip,” O’Donnell said, referring to the full-time owner and part-time driver who now spends the bulk of his time in the FOX broadcasting booth. “He said he likes to be nosed in because that way when he backs up, it’s not his fault. But when he has to pull straight out, he can get in trouble.”

MORE: