NASCAR has been making a lot of updates this season, like the reintroduction of the Chase championship format, and the latest affects the season-opening Daytona 500. It’s a small, but significant update to the multi-day qualifying procedure.
The 36 chartered cars are all guaranteed spots in the Daytona 500 and will continue to race for the two front row starting spots during qualifying, with the rest of the times used to seed the Thursday Duel races.
However, the two fastest open cars in single-car qualifying on Wednesday will now be locked in to the Daytona 500. Previously, they’d fall back on these times if they weren’t one of the highest open car finishers in the Dudls. Now, their Dudl results won’t matter. Only the open cars that were slower in qualifying will be racing for the transfer spots during the Duels.
This year’s Daytona 500 will once again feature 41 starters, as Jimmie Johnson has been approved to use the Open Exemption Provisional, which is an automatic entry for a notable driver with experience that doesn’t get any points or a share of the purse.
Helio Castroneves used the OEP last year under a different system. Then, if the OAP driver qualified in the top 40, there would only be 40 starters and the OAP wouldn’t be used. As it turned out, he was wrecked in the first Duel race and was added as a 41st car. Drivers and owners took issue to the uncertainty of the format, so it was changed this year to a fixed starting spot without points or purse money, but the driver can still qualify for a higher starting position.
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