Lucas Oil LM Knoxville Nationals 101: Know the Format
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
By Eric Arnold - Track Historian
You know the drill when it comes to the weekly Knoxville Championship Cup Series, with numerous races throughout the season, but perhaps you’re a bit rusty on the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals, which take place just once a year in Knoxville? Here’s a quick guide to the points, scoring, and format that make the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals so distinctive.
The Thursday and Friday night qualifying races of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals are unique due to a higher car count than a typical race. Additionally, each team is able to compete both nights and use the highest point total of their two nights as their official score.
To begin, the field is split into two groups by draw for time trials and heat races. Both sets of time trials receive the same point distributions: 200 points for first place, 198 for second, 196 for third, and so on. Following time trials, the Group A cars move into heat races, with Group B cars in a separate set of heats.
Heat races are lined up with an invert of 8 cars by time trial. The heat race winners are awarded 100 points for first place, 97 for second, 94 for third, etc. The top three finishers in each heat will advance to the A-Main. In the A-Main, the point distribution mimics time trials: 200 for first, 198 for second, 196 for third, etc.
Each team uses its highest score between Thursday and Friday night to line up for the Saturday night Championship Features; the car with the highest point total will start inside row one on Saturday.
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