NASCAR announced today that it will revise the qualifying procedure for the
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' inaugural Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono
Raceway on Saturday, July 31, with a multi-truck session on the 2.5-mile track.
The order in which trucks will qualify for the 36 available positions will be
based on their practice speeds from final practice on Friday, July 30. Times
will be inverted, allowing the slowest truck in practice to be the first out in
qualifying on Saturday morning, with the fastest truck going out last. Trucks
will be released from pit road in approximately 25-second increments.
Two laps of qualifying will be allowed with the fastest lap counting. Once a
truck comes onto pit road its respective qualifying lap is complete. No drafting
will be permitted.
"The distance and uniqueness of Pocono afforded us the opportunity to implement
this style of qualifying for this event," said NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Director Wayne Auton. "SPEED is excited about the format and we believe the
fans, drivers and viewing audience will embrace it, too."
"Our anticipation for the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race ever at
Pocono has been building for quite some time, but adding multi-truck qualifying
to the mix really turns it up a notch," said SPEED President Hunter Nickell.
"All of us at SPEED are looking forward to watching this unique qualifying
format unfold live and delivering it to the fans."
"It will definitely be different than what we are used to," said Todd Bodine, a
former series champion who currently leads the series standings by 101 points
over Aric Almirola. "It will be quite a show I'm sure. It should be good for the
fans and good for television."
"We are thrilled to have the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series coming to Pocono
Raceway for the inaugural Pocono Mountains 125," said Brandon Igdalsky,
president of Pocono Raceway. "Recently, Pocono Raceway has been the host to many
firsts, and with the new qualifying format being introduced and the always
exciting double-file restarts, the truck series' first trip to Pocono is sure to
be a memorable one."
A drawing for qualifying order will be held in case inclement weather cancels
the session. The field would then be set according to the NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series rule book.
Qualifying will be televised on SPEED at 10 a.m. on July 31 from Pocono. Tickets
to the Pocono Mountains 125 are available online at www.poconoraceway.com or by
calling 1-800- RACEWAY (800-722-3829)
