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  Ride along with former Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace as he gives CNN/SI a crash-course on NASCAR racing. Rusty's Know-How tips appear each week on CNN/SI.com. Different strokes for different tracks
With about 48 teams competing for 43 spots each week, a good qualifying run is more important than ever. So the question is, are there different qualifying techniques for certain tracks? The answer is absolutely. At Daytona and Talladega, we get two laps of qualifying because it takes at least that much time to get the restrictor-plate engines up to full power. By driving close to the wall on the first lap, you can turn 2.5-mile Daytona into 2.7-mile Daytona. That helps your engine get up to power, and builds more speed. We also get two laps at short tracks like Martinsville and Bristol. Lots of times the second lap at those tracks is a lot faster, so guys use the first lap to set themselves up for the second. Everywhere else it's one lap and that's it. Other than making sure you get a good warm-up, it's all out, bonzai, for that one lap. In some cases, only three tenths of a second separates the entire qualifying field, and one slip can be the difference in being on the pole and going home. How you approach qualifying can make that difference. | ||||||
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