Daytona 500 Qualifying – What You Need to Know

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2014 Daytona 500 Front Row L-Martin Truex Jr R-Austin Dillon, pole sitter Photo - Tom Pennington/Getty Images

2014 Daytona 500 Front Row L-Martin Truex Jr R-Austin Dillon, pole sitter Photo – Tom Pennington/Getty Images

NASCAR has a new format to qualifying for the Daytona 500. For the first time, qualifying which traditionally features single-car runs, will switch to a group qualifying format to set the front row positions. The results from qualifying will also set the field for the Budweiser Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday, February 19 on Fox Sports 1 at 7 pm ET. The results from the Budweiser Duel will complete the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 on February 22 on FOX at 1 pm ET.

FOX will air live Daytona 500 qualifying at 1:30 pm ET on Sunday, February 15 from Daytona International Speedway.

Here’s how it will work:

Round 1

  • There are two groups based on a random draw. Group 1, those with odd numbers go first with a seven-minute break before Group 2, those with even numbers start their session, with each group session at five minutes.

10 minute break before Round 2 begins

Round 2

  • Top-24 fastest cars from Group 1 and 2, in Round 1 advance for the Round 2 five-minute session.

7 minute break before Round 3 begins

Round 3

  • Top 12 fastest cars from Round 2 advance for the Round 3 five-minute session.

The random draw was held Saturday, February 14 to decide Round 1 odd/even groups as follows:

Daytona500Q