How does NASCAR decide who goes first?

The pinnacle of stock car racing, NASCAR involves 40 different drivers participating in 36 races throughout the year to claim the championship. NASCAR racing primarily involves racing stock cars, as its name suggests, which are cars utilized by the common public and produced to be street-legal. NASCAR teams are supplied by cars from the primary manufacturers, Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet. The cars used in NASCAR are capable of reaching 190 mph and are powered by Fuel-Injected V8 engines.

The NASCAR series has given birth to many popular names in the history of the United States. The most popular among them all is the “King” Richard Petty. He is inadvertently the best driver of NASCAR with 7 championship titles, 200 races and many other accolades including a Presidential Medal. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt are some of the other famous drivers who share the record of 7 titles with him. NASCAR racing gives the most amount of exposure and has a lot of prize money among its stock racing counterparts.

NASCAR Rules for Going First

The drivers line up in a grid of twos forming a double file of cars that start the race. However, all cars cannot start from the same position and inevitably there will be a driver who is in the front, with an advantage to his race. It is often wondered if the driver positions are random but in a race of NASCAR’s caliber everything needs to be predetermined precisely. NASCAR races follow a two-day schedule spread over the weekend. Sunday hosts the main race whereas a qualifying session is held on Saturday for the drivers.

As its name suggests, the Qualifying session is meant for drivers to qualify for the upcoming race on Sunday. This session also determines the order in which the cars will be lined up on the grid during the race start. In every Qualifying session, the drivers are divided into two groups. Each group has the liberty of one timed lap and the drivers need to set their fastest time in order to gain a favorable position on the track. After the first stage of Qualifying ends, the top 10 drivers move on to the next stage in order to set the fastest time again and line up for the Top-10 spots on the grid. The rest of the drivers are lined up as per their time during Sunday’s race.

This rule is modified in order to race on Superspeedways, the drivers are sent out to send their best times instead of dividing them into groups and the Top-10 proceed to the next stage of Qualifying. This is how NASCAR decides who goes first.