Rain on the Parade: How Nascar Should Handle a Cancelled Qualifying Session

For the fourth time in the seven championship chase races, rain is threatening to cancel qualifying. This time, the racing is at Atlanta Motor Speedway outside Atlanta, Georgia.

The weather forecast looks pretty dire (see above weather map where the green signifies rain, with the darker green being heavier rain). There is more than an 80 percent chance of rain through Friday in the Atlanta area.

With that kind of forecast, Cup qualifying, scheduled for 6:45 PM on Friday, will likely be a washout. Chances are that practices for both the Craftsman Truck series and the Cup cars, scheduled also for Friday afternoon, will be rained out as well.

If the forecast holds, the starting grid will see the chasers in the top twelve spots. This would also mean that Jimmie Johnson would be on the pole again, not because of his superb qualifying effort, but simply because the rain intervened once more to set the field on points.

When one of the chase qualifying sessions was rained out, it stirred little debate.  But when qualifying at Martinsville was rained out, this time for the third time in a row, fans began to grumble.

The debates raged as fans weighed in. From NASCAR radio shows to race-related blogs, fans expressed their many thoughts and suggestions on how qualifying could be handled differently in case of a rain out.

Some of the suggested alternatives to setting the field on points in case of inclement weather are as follows.

If the weather looks improved for the following day, just find a time on the track to squeeze qualifying in. 

While this might seem pretty simple, just look at the schedule for some of the tracks and see if there's room to qualify one day later. If that can't happen, then cancel qualifying.

Take this weekend for example: the garage opens on Saturday at 9:00 AM and there is action throughout the day amongst the Cup drivers (two practices), the Truck series drivers (qualifying and the race), and the legends series. While the weather looks much better for the next day, there's no down time to fit in an entire Cup qualifying session.

If the weather looks improved for the following day, allow only the "go or go home cars" to at least try to qualify their way into the show on time.  

See above regarding squeezing this one in. Plus, for some race teams it not only prolongs the agony, but also the cost as they struggle to find accommodations to keep their teams for yet another day at the track.

Use the old "ping pong" ball method. 

Just as the teams draw lots for the order in which they will qualify, let them do the same for the actual starting order. While that may seem more equitable, many fans feel that the points leaders' have indeed earned the right to start at the front in case of rain; and element as critical as qualifying should not be left to the luck of the draw.

Invert the field. 

Just to make things really interesting, put those who should be first last, and those who are last first. This would create utter havoc as the slower cars could potentially jumble up the field as the "leaders" struggle to work their way forward. But, it could also be highly entertaining.

Qualify virtually. 

There are so many racing video games out now. Perhaps NASCAR could just set up various Play Station or Nintendo Wii consoles and let each driver qualify online. Heck, many racers say they practice the tracks that way. So, why not qualify that way too in case of rain?

There are just some of the ideas that have been bandied about in case of a qualifying rain out. Maybe the drivers should just arm wrestle—that could be highly amusing. I'm picturing Kyle Busch wrestling Carl Edwards for the pole position.

Or maybe they could do rock-paper-scissors or some other random selection game. For those seasoned drivers, perhaps their children could help them qualify in on this method. I'm thinking Ella Sofia Gordon is just about ready to be put in charge of this one.

Whatever the method may be, it seems that a change needs to be made; Nascar should handle qualifying differently. 

So, what's your novel idea for setting the field in the midst of the storm? 

Don't rush your thoughts though; you will most likely have all day tomorrow, with the rain delay in Atlanta, to think it all through.