Unlike a variety of other sports, every weekend during race season a driver has to race the clock before he gets to battle the other competitors to earn his paycheck. If he does not make the race, he will go home empty handed.

Qualifying can take place the day before the race, but is sometimes on race day, or even two days prior. Unlike other sports, drivers can't just sit out a race because only the first 35 drivers in the point standings are guaranteed a starting spot in the field of 43. This is important, and more on that will be addressed later.

Qualifying actually starts off the track by drawing numbers for the starting order. This procedure is to ensure fairness, as the condition and temperature of the track has a lot to do with how a car will perform on the track. In general, a cooler track will increase speed because the car will handle better on that surface.

The actual qualifying run is slightly more than two laps. Cars start usually from the pit road and get their car up to speed by the time they cross the start/finish line. From that point, they get two laps to set a qualifying speed. They don't have to run both laps, if the first time qualifies them, but most times a driver will run two and take whichever time is faster.

An example would be where the last car to qualify sets the fastest time and has himself the pole (first starting position) guaranteed. In that case he might elect to not run lap two as to eliminate the chance of a possible mishap to his car.

In addition, some tracks are known for having a faster first lap because of the condition and type of the track, and in that case it is common for many cars to not attempt that second lap, as it will be usually slower anyway.

However, not all drivers that show up at the track for qualifying get treated the same. One spot in the season point standings can make all the difference. For example: If a driver is 36th in points and his qualifying run is the 40th best out of 46 people attempting to make the field of 43, he would still not be in the race. However, if a driver is 35th in the standings and he has the 44th fastest speed of the 46 competitors, he still gets in based on his season point standings status.

This rule was implemented not long ago to encourage showing up every week. In essence, at one time some part time drivers showed up, ran a lap or two in the race, cashed in a paycheck (even placing 43rd pays more than the starting fee), and went home.

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