NASCAR is expected to provide NASCAR Cup Series teams with additional practice time for the back half of the season, according to a Saturday report from Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.
Currently, NASCAR Cup Series teams are being split into two equal groups and are given 25 minutes of practice time each during a race weekend, before the field goes directly into qualifying. Now, under these new rules, the entire field would be placed on-track at once, for a 50-minute session.
According to Bianchi’s report, NASCAR is expected to put this change into action starting next month at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (with practice on Saturday, August 22 and the race on Sunday, August 23). The change will be in effect for nine of the final 12 races of the season – excluding superspeedway events at Daytona and Talladega, as well as the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which was already scheduled to have a 50-minute practice session.
Not only will the practice session be extended, but NASCAR Cup Series teams will also be given a second set of Goodyear tires for the longer session, allowing teams to make multiple runs on tires, or even make a mock qualifying run if they so choose.
Per The Athletic’s reporting, one of the major reasons for NASCAR choosing to extend practice for the end of the season is “to help mid-sized teams find performance gains they simply didn’t have time to discover previously” as under the previous format, teams had to show up to the racetrack with a base setup reliant on their simulations, something that manufacturer-aligned teams have more access to than some of the mid-pack teams.
The change will also be a fan favorite, considering drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, as well as fans, have been clamoring for more practice time in recent years, as NASCAR has heavily restricted the amount of on-track time prior to the drop of the green flag in a race.
A 50-minute session is similar to what the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series have on a week-to-week basis, under new rules implemented this year by the sanctioning body.
