Racing News Digest

Ok, this post has been re-written because I did not know what I was talking about in the original post. This one IS correct.

And I want this to be clear.

The Daytona 500 has a very unique qualifying system. The Sunday before the Daytona 500 the drivers have normal qualifying run. Then from the results of that and based off of the previous year OWNERS POINTS they are lined up for the 2 qualifying races called the Gatorade Duels. Depending on your owners points from the previous year (if your in the top 35 in owners points) it will determine which Gatorade Duels you will race in.

From the results in the Gatorade Duels the field is set for the Daytona 500.

SUNDAY QUALIFY

For starter qualifying for the Daytona 500 is held on the Sunday before the 500. There are a couple of purposes for this qualifying event.

The total number of cars in the Gatorade Duels will not exceed 66. So if there are more than 66 cars Qualifying for the Daytona 500 then this will weed some of those out. This is not usually the case. This year, 2009, there were 56 entries so everyone advanced to the Gatorade Duels.

The second and most important purpose of the qualifying even is to determine the front row of the of the Daytona 500. The pole sitter and the 2nd place qualifier will retain those positions in the Daytona 500. They are locked in but are still required to race in the Gatorade Duels in order to get into the Daytona 500.

And they will determine there position in the Gatorade Duel.

GATORADE DUELS

The line up for the Gatorade Duels confuses a lot of people (me included, this is why I re-wrote this post).

Drivers are assigned to Gatorade Duel #1 or #2 based on the previous years owner points. If the OWNER points are have a driver in an ODD number position for the previous year he will line up in the 1st Gatorade Duel. EVEN number positions of owner points will line up in the Gatorade Duel #2. So all odd position owner points in #1 and even positions in owner points in #2.

The above only applies to the top 35 in owners points for the previous year. You may want to check out owners points if you don’t regularly look at them. Because your driver finished 10th in the standings for the previous year, that does not mean he (or his owner) was 10th in owner points.

Now that we know what Gatorade Duel each driver will be racing in, determining their order in that Duel is easy.

The pole position qualifier will have the pole for the first Gatorade Duel. And drivers will fill the grid behind the pole position based on their qualifying effort on Sunday.

The same goes for the second Gatorade Duel except that the pole position of that race is held by who ever qualified second on Sunday.

Now to make one thing clear. Drivers in the top 35 in owner points don’t line up any farther ahead of other drivers. The top 35 in points ONLY tells us what Duel they will race in.

Other drivers that are outside the top 35 in points will be alternated between the first and second Gatorade Duels. The will be alternated on a odd-even bases. Odd number qualifiers go to the first Duel while the even qualifiers go the second Duel.

The odd-even positions are not determined by where the car qualified in the overall field, but their specific qualifying order among those cars not part of the highest-ranked 35 group.

The Daytona 500

Now the starting grid from for the Daytona 500 will be filled from the results of the Gatorade Duels. The front row was already set in the qualifier on Sunday. The pole position qualifier and the 2nd place qualifier will start 1 – 2 in the Daytona 500.

The rest of the field is set with the top 35 in owners points from the previous year.

I your driver is racing in the first Gatorade Duel then they are racing for position on the inside lane behind behind the pole sitter for the Daytona 500. The same applies for the second Gatorade Duel. Drivers are racing for position on the outside lane behind the #2 qualifier.

After that the balance of the 43-car field will be filled by the fastest remaining qualifiers who have not earned a starting position, with the exception of the 43rd position which will be assigned to an eligible former or current series champion. Should there not be an eligible champion, the position will be assigned to the next fastest qualifier not in the field.