Superspeedway Series Format Updates Announced

[Steve Luvender]

In an announcement Friday morning, Vidane Racing officials announced a number of changes to improve racing in the Superspeedway Series:

1) New Maximum Field Size -- The Superspeedway Series will have field sizes no larger than 30 cars. This is to ensure the safest and fastest drivers make the race.

2) New Qualifying Procedure -- First-round qualifying will no longer be held the night of the race in the Superspeedway Series. Instead, there will be four 4-hour practice sessions available throughout the week.Sessions will be held prior to each race as follows (all times ET):

Friday: 8 PM - 11:59 PM
Sunday: 8 PM - 11:59 PM
Monday: 5 PM - 9 PM
Monday: 8 PM - 11:59 PM

The drivers with the top 30 lap times combined from all four sessions will make the race. The field will be announced following Monday's sessions.

Vidane Racing founder Steve Luvender stated in Friday's release, "We feel that this new qualifying system will force drivers to practice drafting and be more comfortable with each other in race conditions, which should reduce caution count. We're also hoping it will increase the amount of teamwork on-track, leading to better racing and better finishes. Another objective is to bring more new drivers into the series by showing that it's simple to sign up and attempt to race in a competitive series."

3) Locked-in Drivers -- The top 10 drivers in points standings will be locked in to the next race.

4) Fixed Setups -- The Superspeedway Series will run fixed setups for all practice and race sessions.

Luvender added, "We're excited to announce these changes and we feel that with support from our drivers we can make this series the most competitive Superspeedway Series in sim racing. Our goal is to have a full field of safe, competitive cars and we feel these rule changes in the Superspeedway Series should go a long way to help ensure that goal is a reality."

There are no changes in format to the Exlander Pro Series at this time, though officials have hinted at a qualifying format update if the Superspeedway Series updates go smoothly.

The Superspeedway Series hits the track next at Daytona on Tuesday, August 3rd. Open practice (which doubles as qualifying) sessions take place Friday 7/30, Sunday 8/1, and Monday 8/2.