By Brian Walker
JACKSON, MN – June 20, 2021 – The format has been finalized for this week’s 43rd annual AGCO Jackson Nationals.
Set for Thursday-Saturday, June 24-26, the crown jewel event at Jackson Motorplex will offer up a $50,000 grand prize to the champion; an additional $100,000 bonus is available if the winner also tops Tuesday’s $30,000-to-win Huset’s 50 as part of THE SHOWDOWN.
Similar to last year’s The One & Only at Knoxville Raceway, this year’s Jackson Nationals will utilize a format centered around accumulative points from preliminary action on Thursday and Friday.
All drivers will compete in the two preliminary shows with Slick Woody’s Qualifying, 4 Team Drydene Heats, a DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, C-Main, Last Chance Showdown, and NOS Energy Drink Feature on the card.
Instead of a straight-up standard format per usual with the World of Outlaws, these preliminary nights include an eight-car inversion in Heat Races, a Dash arranged by points not finish, and automatic Feature bids to Heat winners, among other differences.
More importantly, drivers will be competing for valuable points every single time they hit the racing surface. Qualifying, Heat Races, and the Features all offer up crucial points which will carry over to Saturday’s finale.
The top four in accumulative points from Thursday and Friday will lock-in to the King of the Hill with all others splitting into four Qualifiers based off points. The Qualifier winners will join the lock-ins in the King of the Hill, a unique race against the clock.
A time-trial like battle, the King of the Hill puts four cars on the track with the fastest two times moving on. The four Qualifier winners will face each other first, then the top-two face 3rd & 4th in points, then the fastest two move on to face 1st & 2nd in points. The third and final round is a battle for the pole position of the $50,000-to-win Feature.
The fully detailed format, including the point table, can be found below…
THURSDAY & FRIDAY:
Qualifying will be one flight
Top 32 in Qualifying will be inverted into 4 Heats. The balance of Heats will line up behind the invert.
Top 8 in accumulated points following Heats will transfer to the Dash.
Drivers will draw for Dash starting spots, and finish will set first four rows of Feature.
All Heat winners automatically transfer to the Feature.
Top 8 in points AFTER the Dash cars that were not a Heat winner also make the Feature.
If a Heat winner is a Dash car, then 9th in points will make Feature and so on if needed.
The 4 Heat winners and top 8 in points will line up in Feature by points behind Dash cars.
LCS and C-Main will be lined straight up by accumulated points. 16 to LCS, balance to C-Main. Top 4 to next race.
Fastest car that did not transfer will start on pole of the LCS, which may cause a 21-car LCS.
Heats are 10 laps, Dash is 6 laps, C-Main is 10 laps, LCS is 12 laps, Feature is 25 laps.
SATURDAY:
Top 4 in accumulative points from Thur-Fri will lock-in to the King of the Hill.
Balance of the field will be split into 4 Qualifiers based off points.
Winner of Qualifiers join King of the Hill, then 2nd-3rd-4th transfer to Feature by position.
2nd in Qualifier One starts 9th, 2nd in Qualifiter Two starts 10th, etc.
Positions 5th-6th-7th-8th in Qualifier transfer to LCS by finishing position.
Top 2 in points that did not transfer to Feature will start front row of LCS. Top 4 go to Feature.
Positions 9th and back in Qualifier go to C-Main lined up by finish. Top 4 go to LCS.
KING OF THE HILL:
Top 4 in points + 4 Qualifier winners will make up the King of the Hill
All cars go to the infield (NO adjustments once you reach infield)
4 cars on the clock at a time, two-lap segments
Heat winners will go first. All four at same time
Top 2 fastest times move on to face 3rd & 4th in points
Top 2 from that group will move on to face 1st & 2nd in points
Final session determines the front two rows, i.e. fastest earns pole position
POINTS BREAKDOWN:
Qualifying (1-point drop): 100, 99, 98, 97, 95, etc..
Heat Races (5-point drop): 100, 95, 90, 85, 80, etc..
Last Chance Showdown (3-point drop): 171, 168, 165, etc..
Feature (3-point drop): 250, 247, 244, 241, 238, etc..
*First non-transfer in C-Main receives three less points than last in LCS, then three-point drop-off to the end.
*Ties in pointed are broken by 1) higher AVG Feature finish; 2) Higher AVG Qualifying spot
*Any driver/car using a Feature provisional will receive points for position finished in C-Main or LCS