NASCAR could tweak qualifying rules at plate tracks

That strange qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway might end up being a one-time thing. NASCAR executive Robin Pemberton said rules could be tweaked to prevent teams from trying to scheme ways to post the fastest laps during the three knockout stages. "I think we'll learn from all of this moving forward and continue to talk and see if there's anything that we need to look at to try to make things better for the fans and better for the competitors," said Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition.

"All in all, it's been a great year for qualifying and it's been a great year for a lot of different rule changes that we put into play this year. We'll sit down and we'll talk about some of these things toward the latter stages of the year and see what we may rub on and do a little changing or some things like that." NASCAR's new qualifying rules package was used for the first time at Daytona in the Sprint Cup Series on Friday, and it produced some head-scratching moments as groups of cars slowed to a crawl around the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway.

The small packs – most of them formed by teammates – were hoping to pull behind bigger groups and draft behind them to produce fast laps. But no one was eager to lead the way, especially not in a huge cluster of cars. NASCAR could conceivably change the qualifying rules before the Oct. 19 race at Talladega. Associated Press