Denny Hamlin Claps Back at Opposition to NASCAR’s Qualifying Metric
What’s Happening? Recently, quite a few fans showed their displeasure with NASCAR’s qualifying metric. However, Denny Hamlin pushed back against the…
While NASCAR fans, industry members, and even drivers continue to debate what the best way is to set the race weekend qualifying order, Trackhouse Racing Owner Justin Marks stepped up to support a return to the old way of deciding the order during a recent interview.
What’s Happening? Recently, quite a few fans showed their displeasure with NASCAR’s qualifying metric. However, Denny Hamlin pushed back against the…
This week, the NASCAR community has pushed back and forth on the idea of scrapping NASCAR’s Qualifying Metric.
The metric, first introduced as a substitute for qualifying during the COVID-19 Pandemic-affected 2020 season, has taken on new life in recent years, used as a stopgap when qualifying cannot be held and as the determining factor in the qualifying order.
While it may seem over the top, the metric uses data such as owners’ points and finishing position from the previous race, with the latter having a greater influence on the metric.
This week, the discussion has not centered around the use of the metric to set the field; should qualifying be canceled? Instead, some industry members have set their sights on the qualifying order.
The debate over this subject began on Monday, when Kelly Crandall of RACER posted a passionate take on X, calling the metric outdated.
The resulting response chain saw 23XI Racing Co-Owner and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin join the discussion, defending the use of the metric, saying that it “rewards performance over the short term and long term.”
Still, fans pushed back, with many reaching the same conclusion: it was time to bring back random drawing for qualifying order.
In response to one of these fans, Hamlin used the example of a driver chasing a championship having to go to first in qualifying, “Your favorite driver is on the bubble headed to the last regular season race. He’s drawn ‘first qualifying position. You good with that randomness? Think its fair?”
Though Hamlin is adamant about his opposition to random draw, even taking the discussion to his podcast, Actions Detrimental, a fellow driver-turned-owner says otherwise.
During a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Trackhouse Racing Owner Justin Marks said that he would like to see the return of a random draw for qualifying order. However, he is still unsure how that would affect drivers’ starting spots.
“I think maybe going back to the pill draw, I like that from the past, and equalizing the opportunity for everybody. I don’t know how many spots it would cost doing that.” — Justin Marks
The part-time racer and full-time Cup Series car owner went on to explain that he is a little biased, saying he missed the random, or “pill,” draw method, though he understands there are outside reasons why the best should get to go last in qualifying.
“I miss the pill draw, that’s all,” Marks said. “I just think it’d be kind of cool going back to a pill draw. But I know that we’re trying to create drama on Sundays or on Saturdays. I know we want to build to the pole, we want the broadcast to gain momentum and have drama right at the end.”
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