In an attempt to spice up qualifying, pit road speeds that are strictly enforced in races as a safety measure will be lifted for Friday night’s three-lap trip around Charlotte Motor Speedway that includes a mandatory four-time stop.

Greg Biffle anticipates cars will come down pit road in excess of 100 mph — well over the 45 mph used in races — with drivers that push the limit losing control and ending up in the infield grass.

“Practice is the thing to watch, not the real qualifying,” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said during an appearance Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “The thing is, you don’t know [what will happen] until you try it.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, can you make it from the balcony into the pool without hitting the pool deck?’ There’s one way to figure it out. You can do all the calculating you want, but you’ve just got to try it.”

Another tweak announced Wednesday will allow the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote from the Showdown to advance into the main event without being on the lead lap as long as the car is in “raceable” condition as determined by Sprint Cup Series director John Darby.

Some have dubbed that the “Danica Patrick Rule,” noting that the popular Stewart-Haas Racing driver could benefit.

Patrick has finished on the lead lap in only two of 11 races this season.

“I don’t need to say any names,” David Ragan said when asked if the rule was made for any driver in particular. “We can all assume and make pretty good guesses. But there’s usually good reasons for making any rule change.”

Ragan doesn’t like the rule, even though officials said prior to last season the winner of the fan vote didn’t have to be on the lead lap.

“I don’t think that’s right,” said Ragan, who earned his way into the All-Star race with a surprise victory at Talladega Superspeedway. “You need to be competitive. It’s a contradicting rule. So you can’t be torn up and get in, but if you’re slow and not on the lead lap, why should you be in the All-Star race? In my opinion, that’s not a good rule for the intent of the All-Star race.

“The All-Star race is supposed to be about the best of the best.”

That will be the case in qualifying, where it will take skill to get on and off pit road at a higher than normal speed.

“Heck, we had trouble sliding through our pit box going 45 mph, so I can only imagine,” Ragan said. “Watch out Kurt Busch. I know he’s going to be coming down hard.”

Pit road limits have been set since 1991, the year after a Ricky Rudd’s car spun 180 degrees on pit road in Atlanta and slammed into Bill Elliott’s car. Elliott’s tire changer, Mike Rich, died after being caught in between the cars.

Other cars will not be on pit road during All-Star qualifying, and crew members will not be allowed to come over the wall until the car is stopped, which is not the case in a race.

“We’ll do that only for qualifying and only for the All-Star race because we can control the environment and it’ll be very clean down there,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “It’s an opportunity to do something on a weekend that is known for different stuff.”

The race will consist of four 20-lap segments and a 10-lap shootout with the winner collecting $1 million. Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith is offering another $1 million if a driver can win all five segments.

But qualifying could be the biggest spectacle.

“I can promise you guys are going to be off in the grass,” Biffle said. “I may be one of them.”

The post No pit speed limit in All-Star race appeared first on IdealCapper.

The new nominees announced on Wednesday are 1999 Sprint Cup champion and ESPN analyst Dale Jarrett, engine builder Maurice Petty, Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith, 1960 Cup champion Rex White and five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion Larry Phillips.

Jarrett is the son of two-time Cup champion Ned Jarrett, a member of the 2011 Hall of Fame class. Dale Jarrett won 32 times, including three Daytona 500s.

Petty was the chief engine builder for Petty Enterprises. He is the brother of Hall of Famer Richard Petty, a seven-time Winston Cup champion and NASCAR’s all-time winner with 200 victories.

Smith built Charlotte Motor Speedway and is known as an innovator among track owners, introducing condominiums, VIP suites and club-like restaurants to the sport. As the chairman of SMI, he owns eight tracks that host 12 Cup events.

“It is a great honor to be nominated as a candidate for the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” Smith said in a release. “Bill France Jr. once asked me to help him build NASCAR and I have literally been building monuments to the sport for my entire lifetime. Millions of people have attended NASCAR events at our speedways over the years and we’ve tried to be creative and innovative in an effort to help push the sport to a higher level. It’s always been a perfect fit for me because I love racing and I love NASCAR fans.”

White was considered one of the sport’s most consistent drivers, recording top-five finishes in nearly half of his 233 races. He finished outside the top 10 only 30 percent of the time in collecting 28 wins.

Phillips won an amazing 226 times en route to an unprecedented five wins in NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series.

The five nominees join 20 others previously selected by a 21-person nominating committee.

The five 2014 inductees will be selected from the list of 25 by a 54-member voting panel for the Hall’s fifth class on May 22.

The entire list of 25 includes:

• Red Byron: First champion in NASCAR’s premier series now known as the Sprint Cup series in 1949.

• Richard Childress: 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series, including six with Dale Earnhardt in the Cup series.

• Jerry Cook: Six-time NASCAR Modified champion.

• H. Clay Earles: Founder of Martinsville Speedway.

• Tim Flock — Two-time Cup series champion.

• Ray Fox: Legendary engine builder and owner of cars driven by Buck Baker, Junior Johnson and others.

• Anne Bledsoe France: Helped build the sport with husband, Bill France Sr.

• Rick Hendrick: 13-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series.

• Jack Ingram: Two-time champion in NASCAR’s second-tier series (now Nationwide) and three-time Late Model Sportsman champion.

• Bobby Isaac: 1970 Cup champion.

• Dale Jarrett: 1999 Cup champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner.

• Fred Lorenzen — Winner of 26 Cup races, including the Daytona 500 and World 600.

• Raymond Parks: NASCAR’s first champion car owner.

• Benny Parsons: 1973 Cup champion.

• Maurice Petty: Chief engine builder for Petty Enterprises.

• Larry Phillips: Only five-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.

• Les Richter: Former NASCAR executive, former president of Riverside International Raceway.

• Fireball Roberts: 33 Cup wins, including the 1962 Daytona 500, and the sport’s first true superstar.

• T. Wayne Robertson: Helped raise NASCAR popularity as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company senior vice president.

• Wendell Scott: First and only black driver to win a Cup race in 1964.

• Ralph Seagraves: Formed Winston-NASCAR partnership as an executive with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

• O. Bruton Smith: Builder of Charlotte Motor Speedway and chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. that owns eight NASCAR tracks that host 12 Cup events.

• Curtis Turner: Early personality known as the “Babe Ruth of stock car racing.”

• Joe Weatherly: Two-time Cup champion.

• Rex White: 1960 Cup champion.

The post Hall of Fame nominees announced appeared first on IdealCapper.