Drivers view new NASCAR practice format as a 'hot-lap session'

By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer

This weekend, NASCAR heads to Fontana to race for the first time since 2020, and it will bring with it a new procedure for practice and qualifying.

Or maybe that should say "hot laps" and qualifying. Or "shakedown" and qualifying.

That’s because for most tracks, drivers will get 15-20 minutes of practice with the new Next Gen cars.

"If you unload way off, you're in trouble," former Cup champion Joey Logano said. "Or you don't have time to recover."

For most races in the 2020 and '21 seasons, NASCAR scrapped practice and qualifying. For the majority of events, teams showed up and raced as part of COVID-19 protocols. The lineups were done by a confusing formula based on previous race finish, previous race fastest lap ranking and team owner points ranking.

Now drivers will get to earn their starting positions at the track where they race. And they will get practice — or something resembling it.

"We’ve got to use the word practice loosely because it’s not a typical practice session, where you are able to go out and make a run, come back in the garage, make an educated decision on what changes you are going to make," Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell said. "Theoretically, it is a hot-lap session."

At least the math is gone as far as determining the starting order. But it is still around in a little bit of fashion.

Cup teams will be split into two groups for practice based on that formula (alternating spots among the two groups). Each group will get 15 minutes of practice on ovals and 20 minutes of practice on road courses.

After each group practices, the first group will qualify — single-car, one-lap qualifying runs on ovals (two laps at Martinsville, Bristol, Richmond and Dover) and 15-minute timed session on road courses — and then the second group. The top five from each group advance to the final round (single-car runs on ovals, 10-minute sessions on road courses).

The starting order of the first five rows will be determined by the final round and the remainder of the field by the first round.

At Daytona and Talladega, there will be no practice session, considering that teams rarely practice in a draft.

Some would argue that with the inability to change tires during practice (they can prior to qualifying) or make significant adjustments — cars will go through tech prior to practice and be impounded after qualifying — there isn’t a ton to be gained in the 15 or 20 minutes.

"You can run 30 laps straight and get a run that way ... or you're going to come in and make a change and go back out," Logano said, referring to the plan on a one-mile track. "But you don't have much time to do anything longer. No long changes. It has to be something quick."

Teams will use their simulation programs to get their setups right and then might see what one adjustment does in practice. Teams won’t be able to put the cars up on four jack stands during the practice or prior to qualifying.

"There's not going to be spring changes or anything big. It’ll be two wheels [maximum] off of the ground at a time, with an inspector present," NASCAR Senior Vice President Scott Miller said.

Veteran Michael McDowell said the short practice time with a new car will limit the advice he can give to rookie teammate Todd Gilliland.

"If I had more to give to him about how I’m going to approach practice, I would, but we’re just going to hit the track and figure out what we need to do," McDowell said. "It’s going to be a steep curve for everybody."

McDowell said the key will be simple: Don’t crash.

"The biggest thing ... going to California is not making any mistakes in those practices because we’re still really limited on cars, limited on parts, and so it’s just minimizing the risk and maximizing the opportunity in those practices and qualifying," McDowell said.

The practice and qualifying formats will be slightly different for Xfinity and trucks. They won’t be split into groups for ovals, where they will have one 20-minute practice session for everyone and one round. They will have two groups and two rounds like Cup at the road courses.

"It's definitely a different way of racing, especially with a new car," Logano said. "It wasn't that bad with no practice with the old cars because we kind of got used to it.

"But little issues that may pop up even outside of handling — if you have an issue with these parts that we don’t completely understand yet, do we know how to fix it, and can we fix it in time for the race? Those are the things that go through my mind that concern me a lot."

Thinking out loud

NASCAR didn’t issue penalties to Team Penske and RFK for making modifications to their wheels during the Daytona race week. The modified wheels were never raced, and NASCAR made a rule change for this weekend at Fontana that would have made those wheels legal.

Roger Penske said they knew they needed to open up the drive pin holes a little to make sure they fit, and the team had mentioned its concerns to NASCAR. NASCAR met with several teams Tuesday and opted to open up the tolerances.

NASCAR has preached two key things with this new car: that it will work with teams in development and that any messing with vendor parts will carry serious consequences. This was a situation in which those two elements came in conflict with each other.

NASCAR should have delivered a nominal penalty — maybe 10 points — just to show that you can’t do things without NASCAR approval, even if it turns out it is something NASCAR wants to allow in the future.

NASCAR has swung open the door to similar claims by teams going forward. At some point, NASCAR will have to call foul and hand down some penalties. When will that be? No one really knows.

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They said it

"It’s not racing. It’s going into a museum somewhere, I’m sure." — Austin Cindric on his Daytona 500-winning car not racing again, despite parts in low supply

Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!