After a lengthy open dialogue and vote between full-time teams and drivers, the 2024 High Limit Racing event format has been finalized.
"We put a few different options on the table and had some great back and forth conversations with our teams before coming to this conclusion," Competition Director, Mike Hess noted. "We wanted to allow our teams to have a say but also keep the fans in mind, and we feel like we accomplished that with this format we'll roll out at East Bay next month. This format is a great mix to keep things fair for the teams, while giving fans the excitement they deserve."
Similar to the 2023 All Star Circuit of Champions format, the 2024 High Limit Racing format took that baseline and made minor adjustments. The HLR format will utilize overall Qualifying (instead of by Heat) to determine lineups, which will still see the fastest car in each Heat inverted to 4th with others starting straight up.
Heats will see the winner + fastest transfer go to the Dash, the twist comes if the fastest qualifier wins the Heat Race from 4th - they'll be guaranteed the best available Dash starting spot and the next position car will go to the redraw. For example, if QuickTime wins Heat 1 from 4th, he'll automatically be on the pole of the Dash with the 1 pill removed from the draw for others.
Everything from the A-Main (after the Dash) to B-Main and beyond will be lined straight up by the Heat Race finishes. The front row of the B-Main is reserved for the two fastest non-transfers from Heats.
Once we reach 32 cars on a given race night, the field will be seeded into groups A and B (drawn for which group qualifies first) to conduct Split Qualifying for 4 Heat Races.
In the event of standard two-day shows without a designated special format already in place, the top 3 or 4 finishers from the prelim will be locked-in of sorts to the finale - exact number depends on car count. Those drivers are considered the top qualifiers on the second night but get to skip Qualifying, automatically lined up in Heat Races in those positions with all other cars behind them in the Qualifying order. The standard format takes over from there.
As for the points system, only A-Main events will award championship points for both the overall title and Midweek Money Series. Creating an emphasis on finishing at the front, every podium spot will receive an extra point the better they finish. The full points structure can be found at the bottom.
- Format is subject to change based on track size and/or conditions.
Less than 20 Cars:
- All cars qualify within a single flight to lineup 2 Heat Races (8-10 Laps)
- Quickest qualifier in each Heat is inverted to start 4th, with all others starting straight up
- All cars transfer to A-Main
- Top 2 in each Heat + fastest qualifier in top-5 go to Dash redraw. If Heat winner is fastest transfer (from 4th), they are guaranteed best available Dash starting spot and 3rd-place car from that Heat will be included in Dash.
- Those starting positions that winners occupy in front of the Dash will be taking out of available pills to draw during the Dash Draw.
- All other positions line straight up from Heat finishes in A-Main.
21-31 Cars:
- All cars qualify within a single flight to lineup 3 Heat Races (8-10 Laps)
- Quickest qualifier in each Heat is inverted to start 4th, with all others starting straight up
- 1st-6th transfer with all others to B-Main
- Winner + fastest transfer to Dash redraw. If Heat winner is fastest transfer (from 4th), they are guaranteed best available Dash starting spot and 2nd-place car from that Heat will be included in Dash.
- Those starting positions that winners occupy in front of the Dash will be taking out of available pills to draw during the Dash Draw.
- A-Main is lined up by finishing positions 2nd-6th from Heat Races lining straight up behind Dash cars.
- B-Main is lined up by finishing positions 7th+ from Heat Races straight up, with the 2-fastest cars that didn't transfer earning the front row of B-Main.
- B-Main transfers start straight up in the A-Main behind Heat Race transfers.
32+ cars:
- Split Qualifying begins at 32 cars with cars seeded into 2 groups. We will draw to see which group is A or B.
- Quickest qualifier in each Heat is inverted to start 4th, with all others starting straight up
- 1st-5th transfer with all others to B-Main, C-Main, D-Main if needed.
- Winner + fastest transfer to Dash redraw. If Heat winner is fastest transfer (from 4th), they are guaranteed best available Dash starting spot and 2nd-place car from that Heat will be included in Dash.
- A-Main is lined up by finishing positions 2nd-5th from Heat Races lining straight up behind Dash cars.
- B-Main is lined up by finishing positions 6th+ from Heat Races straight up, with the 2-fastest cars that didn't transfer earning the front row of B-Main. B-Main transfers then start straight up in the A-Main behind Heat transfers.
- C-Main and D-Main may be added depending on car count. C-Main and D-Mains transfer top-2 to the back of next main.
- B/C/D Mains may change in car count depending on track size and/or conditions.
- 1 or 2 Non-Qualifier races may be added after 48 cars are present. Top 4 or 8 transfer from Non-Qualifiers into Heat Races with others going to lowest main.
A-Main Points - 1. 77 PTS; 2. 72 PTS; 3. 68 PTS; 4. 65 PTS; 5. 63 PTS; 6. 61 PTS; 7. 59 PTS; 8. 57 PTS; 9. 55 PTS; 10. 53 PTS; 11. 51 PTS; 12. 49 PTS; 13. 47 PTS; 14. 45 PTS; 15. 43 PTS; 16. 41 PTS; 17. 39 PTS; 18. 37 PTS; 19. 35 PTS; 20. 33 PTS; 21. 31 PTS; 22. 29 PTS; 23. 27 PTS; 24. 25 PTS. All Non-Qualifiers receive 20 PTS.
The 2024 High Limit Racing campaign officially begins on Monday & Tuesday, February 12-13 at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL, and concludes on Friday & Saturday, October 11-12 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX. Along with 25+ races paying $20,000 or more to win, teams will also compete for a $1 million championship fund and an additional $100,000 points fund for the Midweek Money Series.
Stay tuned to FloRacing.com to keep up with the incoming announcements as more news regarding the 2024 season rolls out. For fans unable to attend the track next year, you will be able to stream every High Limit Racing event live on FloRacing.