FONTANA, CA. — As Boo’s rained down from the small crowd at Fontana, California’s Auto Club Speedway, the disappointment from Friday’s Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series qualifying session was apparent. There was one thing everyone agreed on: The rules package has ruined qualifying and it needs to be fixed and fast.
All 12 drivers in the final round of qualifying failed to register a lap due to the avoidance of being the first car in line with the new aerodynamic package that leaves the lead car at a severe disadvantage. By default Austin Dillion received the pole because of his second round time and many drivers shared their thoughts.
“I’ve never seen it in ours, but we just got boo’d. I don’t know. I saw this coming three weeks ago. I think we all did. We have to work together to make sure it gets fixed” said Stewart-Haas Racing driver Clint Bowyer who will start 9th in Sunday’s Auto Club 400.
With the agreeance on a need for a fix brings on another question: How does the qualifying format get fixed? There are multiple ways to eliminate the waiting game that was seen in Fontana on Friday like returning to the old single-car format that had every car take two laps to see if they could top the charts.
The growing frustration with qualifying because of the new aerodynamic package in 2019 is becoming apparent, but still many drivers are taking the high road.
“I can’t answer that. I don’t make the rules” said Kevin Harvick.
Another idea that was floated around was keeping group qualifying for the first two rounds and having the final 12 drivers go through single car runs to determine who sits on the pole. Racing pundits have also proposed penalizing drivers who fail to complete a qualifying lap because of them waiting to the last moments of the session.
Nascar competition director Scott Miller held a media session outside the series hauler after qualifying and assured changes were coming to qualifying very soon to make sure something like this didn’t happen ever again.
“Making a mockery of the qualifying out of the qualifying is not what we expect for our fans. It’s a little bit on us. We have a little work to do.” says Miller.
Miller further elaborated that he fully expects to have changes in place by the Texas race in 2 weeks.
While the damage has been done in Fontana, Nascar sees its faults and will hopefully make changes for the rest of the season.