Watkins Glen, Martinsville moving to Cup qualifying and race on same day
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WATKINS GLEN, NY - AUGUST 10: AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #47 Scott Products Chevrolet, leads Marcos Ambrose, driver of the #9 Stanley Ford, and the field during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International on August 10, 2014 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Graythen/NASCAR via Getty Images)
A new movement has started to spread across several NASCAR tracks for the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season with Watkins Glen and Martinsville both announcing qualifying on the same day as the race.
The change at Martinsville only applies to the fall playoff race on Oct. 29 where qualifying will start off the morning and be followed by the race in the afternoon. The spring race will be a typical three-day race weekend.
At Watkins Glen, qualifying takes place at 12:35 p.m. ET on Aug. 6 with the race following at 3 p.m. ET.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The two tracks join Pocono Raceway, which recently announced qualifying and the race for the Pennsylvania 400 race weekend of July 28-30 will take place on the same day.
The qualifying session takes place at 12:05 p.m. ET on Sunday with the race following at 3 p.m. ET on July 30 at Pocono.
The first Pocono race weekend in June will follow the typical three-day weekend schedule.