Metric Out, Owner Points in For 2027 NASCAR Qualifying Rainouts

The NASCAR Performance Metric, which has grown unpopular over the last few years, will no longer be used to set the starting lineup for races in 2027.

Restart during the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The dreaded NASCAR Performance Metric, which has set starting lineups following qualifying session cancellations since the COVID-19 pandemic, will be replaced heading into the 2027 NASCAR season. According to John Probst, President of NASCAR Event Management, owner point standings, the tried-and-true method, will be used next season.

The metric formula drew the ire of many, as it was seen as a double punishment for having a bad day on track.

The deathblow for the metric seemingly came during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase as several races within the 10-race championship battle saw qualifying washed out, which resulted in the metric setting the lineup.

“I would say that a lot of the work we did on the metric, where we take your finish the week before and add that to your owner's position, serves a good purpose for qualifying, but I think when we look at it and see how it happened this year, I think we had four of our first six [race in the Chase] get rained out for qualifying for something like that, then you really do see the potential unfairness in how it was going to lineup when you did the wet-weather lineup that way,” said Probst to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

👀 "We are looking at that All-Star style qualifying where you actually have a pit stop for maybe a very select few races next year."#NASCAR's John Probst shares thoughts on the metric, how it's being tweaked for 2027 and shares an update on qualifying procedure. pic.twitter.com/dsgb7NRVQi

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) November 6, 2026

Probst continued, “So, what we’re going to do in 2027 is line them up by owner’s points; that’ll make it a little bit easier to explain to our fans. There’s no math involved other than you just look at the points, and that’s how we’ll line them up on Sundays.”

While NASCAR is still finalizing the rules and formats for next season, Probst did pull back the curtain on some potential changes to the overall format of qualifying sessions in the NASCAR National Series ranks.

While the performance metric will likely set the qualifying order from week-to-week, Probst explained that the sanctioning body has debated cutting superspeedway qualifying sessions to just one round, instead of the two round format that is currently used at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta.

Probst also says NASCAR is looking at potentially moving to an All-Star Race qualifying format, which would include a live pit stop, for select events during the 2027 season.

However, Probst says nothing has been finalized in regard to the qualifying format next season as NASCAR is still working with the teams.