Gluck: Group qualifying at Daytona should not return

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jeff Gordon's Daytona 500 pole win was the best possible storyline for NASCAR.

But the way in which it was decided was just about the worst. Now the group qualifying format, being used for the first time to set the front row for the Daytona 500, should never return at NASCAR's biggest race.

The qualifying session was a joke. This was not how the pole position for NASCAR's most prestigious event should be determined.

"I don't see how it's exciting and I don't think the drivers think it's exciting," Kyle Larson said. "At least for this race — this race has always been made off of how hard your team works to get the pole."

Instead of the fastest cars making it to the front row, the group qualifying format meant drivers had to try and hang toward the back of a pack in a series of five-minute sessions. Whichever drivers were last would have the fastest time — the opposite of a normal race.

This led to a game of chicken on pit road, as drivers backed out of their pit stalls like synchronized swimmers and then waited at the end of pit road to leave just enough time for one lap.

Gordon and outside pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson would have finished 11th and 12th in a 12-driver heat race, but instead they'll make up the front row for the Great American Race.

That's the way to determine the pole position for NASCAR's equivalent of the Super Bowl and reward teams who have worked for months on car setups? It shouldn't be.

NASCAR saw what could happen last fall at Talladega Superspeedway, when the format created a chaotic circus and upset drivers. And then officials decided to use it for the Daytona 500.

Why? In part, because it's good for TV. But ironically, the people NASCAR may have been trying to attract — the casual sports fan who might happen to catch Daytona 500 qualifying on network TV — would have been more confused this year than ever.

Why are they sitting at the end of pit road and not racing? Wait, you mean the pole doesn't go to the driver who is leading the pack? They want to be last on purpose?

PHOTOS: 2015 Daytona 500 pole qualifying

It was a one-time experiment that should become extinct, at least for the 500. This pole used to come after an offseason of hard work in the wind tunnel and by the engine shop, with attention paid to the smallest detail to make the car just hundredths of a second faster.

The pole winner would then be celebrated for a week, with the race team getting much of the credit for the success.

The idea that drivers now have an additional chance to tear up a car that's taken months to perfect has to be sickening for the teams. Clint Bowyer was irate after his No. 15 car was destroyed, and can you blame him?

And what if someone had been injured as a result of this madness?

Single-car qualifying might be boring and take three hours, but at least it doesn't cheapen Daytona's prestige in the name of TV ratings.

Most drivers despise the format, but some are willing to keep doing it if it's more interesting to watch. Train wrecks and police chases are interesting to watch, too — but is that the level of entertainment NASCAR is looking for?

"I think it's a balance," NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said. "Jeff Gordon on the pole, certainly (in) his last Daytona 500, is great. Seeing the incident that took place is not. So it's a balance.

"We've got to take everything kind of in stride. We see new things every day, have to make decisions on that. Overall I think we're happy about the excitement of the qualifying session, but we've got to look at if there's adjustments we can make to continue to improve that, we're going to do that."

So much about NASCAR has been changed over the last decade, including the way the championship has been decided.

But there are still some things about tradition NASCAR should treat with respect, and its biggest and most important race — the Daytona 500 — is one of them.​

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck

PHOTOS: History of the Daytona 500







