During Saturday’s drivers meeting prior to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at the Golden Isles Speedway it was announced by series director Rick Schwallie that the use of provisionals would be enforced differently by that series. The change was brought on after defending series champion Scott Bloomquist arrived well after the drivers meeting, hot laps, and qualifying during the event run on the previous night at the same track.
Bloomquist entered the B-main race on Friday but only ran a few laps before pulling off track. He was given a provisional which allowed him to start the feature and earn points. The move drew fiery response from some of the other competitors.
Provisionals are used as a way for a particular series to essentially reward drivers who regularly participate in their races by awarding them a starting position in the feature race should they experience trouble in the preliminaries. Those who are highest in the series points standings and have not qualified for the main event in any other way are allowed to start from the rear in the feature, and thus, maintain their perfect attendance and receive at least some payout for the race.
According to the announcement made in the drivers meeting, the car must be presented for technical inspection at least 15 minutes prior to that particular night’s drivers meeting for the series regular to be allowed to use the provisional. Each driver will be allowed one “Mulligan”, or unexcused absence from early tech inspection for the remainder of the season. Beyond that, if it can be proven that there was some sort of problem in getting to the track such as a mechanical issue with the team hauler, the other regular drivers on the series will vote to determine whether or not they want their competitor to be eligible for the provisional.
Click here to read about Bloomquist’s late arrival on Friday night and what others had to say about it.
