RULES of 2017 Daytona 500

2017 Daytona 500 Qualifier Format:

59th Daytona 500 qualifying:
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 19 on Fox, but only the front row will be set through the first round of Daytona’s unique qualifying format. The front row will be determined through single-lap time-trial runs, with the rest of the field to be set through the Duel qualifying races on Feb. 23.

The qualifying format for the Daytona 500 is unique and can be a bit confusing. However, the folks at NASCAR.com have done a pretty good job of breaking down the multi-stage process. We’ll summarize the format here.

On Sunday, the first two positions in the race—the front row—will be determined via single-car qualifying. There will be two rounds here, with the 12 fastest cars from Round 1 advancing to Round 2. The two fastest cars in the second round will earn the No. 1 and No. 2 spots at Daytona.

The Can-Am Duels also feature two rounds of qualifying, and these will determine slots 3-38 for Daytona. The qualifying cars from the first Duel will line up on the inside row in the Daytona 500, while the qualifiers from the second Duel will line up on the outside row for the race.

The last two spots for the race will be given to the top two top open teams from the single-car stage that didn’t qualify in the Can-Am Duels.

This will make up the 40-car field for Daytona.

New Race Rules


There are some interesting new rules surrounding the Daytona 500 this season. As will be the case with all races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year, there will be three stages to the actual race, with points being awarded after each.
Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com does an excellent job of breaking down how the point system will work with multiple stages:

Upon the completion of each of the first two stages, drivers finishing first through 10th will be awarded additional points (10th for first, nine for second, etc.) that will be included in their final total for that race only. Additionally, one point per stage win will be awarded to those drivers qualifying for the 10-race playoff at the end of the season. Race-winning drivers also will earn five bonus points per win to be applied following the completion of the regular season.
For Daytona, there will be two 60-lap stages, followed by an 80-lap final stage.

According to NASCAR senior vice president Scott Miller, Daytona’s stages were specifically set at 40 percent, 40 percent and 60 percent in order to play to the excitement of the race.

“We had to kind of set the stages to where they landed as far away from a fuel window as they possibly could—so the teams could either make it to the stage finish or guaranteed that they would have to stop before they made it to the stage finish so we wouldn’t turn these races into fuel-mileage races,” Miller explained, per Bob Pockrass of ESPN. com.

Other new rules at Daytona this year impact how cars can be repaired during the race. Cars may no longer go to the garage to fix damage. Instead, they’re given a five–minute window to fix damage on pit road. If repairs take longer than five minutes or require more than six crew members to fix the damage, the car will be pulled from the race.

New body components, such as panels, will not be allowed to be used. Cars will be allowed to visit the repair garage to fix mechanical or electrical issues that were not the result of a collision.