The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International to run its second and final road-course race of the season, the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).
For this race, group qualifying remains in effect but will be slightly different than the group qualifying seen as short tracks and intermediate tracks in the sport's national series.
Qualifying will consist of two elimination rounds to determine the starting lineup. The first round will last 25 minutes with all cars then the 12 fastest cars will advance to the final round.
After a 10-minute break, the final round will last for 10 minutes and drivers will start based off of their time from the first round. The fastest single lap will determine P1 through P12 in descending order for Sunday’s race. The fastest driver wins the coveted pole position. This same format was used at Sonoma Raceway in June.
This setup for road course qualifying will also be used in the NASCAR XFINITY Series road course races at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America as well as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Last year, Marcos Ambrose set a new track record in qualifying at Watkins Glen with a fast lap of 129.491 mph in the first of three rounds of qualifying.