Great points. I remember Talladega last fall when the top 7, 9 of the top 10, and like 11 of the top 13 in qualifying were all go or go homers, including Hornish in Penske power. That right there shows you that, especially in impound races, those out of the top 35 focus on qualifying while the rest worry about the race.
I know at the least Sam and Kahne both worked exclusively on race setup in practice and never made qualifying runs. With all but 2 of the Dodges starting 31st or worse, I'd say that's what most of those teams did. Who knows what would have happened had they worked on qualifying. Maybe Riggs would have missed anyway. But the rules are the same for everyone, and had the 66 team not got caught breaking the rules they'd be in the top 35.
I think under the old rules the 2 that would have missed this week would have been Hornish and Robby Gordon though. The top 36 in speed would have been in, putting both Riggs and Yeley in. Then the provisionals would have gone to Truex, Kurt Busch, Sadler, Sorenson, McMurray, and Kahne for being the top 6 in owner's points that missed, followed by Terry Labonte with the past champions provisional.
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