NASCAR announced several qualifying procedure updates, which include additional deterrence measures, for all three NASCAR national series ahead of the upcoming race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The news was announced in a memo to teams.

Now, any driver that does not take a lap in the qualifying rounds will have all previously posted times in the session disallowed. This means that, instead of falling back on the previous round’s time, that driver would have to begin the race from the back.

Additionally, any driver who blocks pit road—preventing drivers from exiting—will be penalized. Penalties might include disallowing that team’s posted qualifying speed or disqualifying that car from additional qualifying rounds. Vehicles not immediately making a qualifying attempt will be staged in a track-specific area designated by NASCAR.

The changes were finalized following a final round at Auto Club Speedway in which all 12 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers failed to make it to the start/finish line in time to log an official lap.

“The inherent problem (at Auto Club) was obviously everybody waiting to the end, and it being unorderly on the end of pit road with people blocking and playing all kinds of games,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told NASCAR.com. “So really, we want to retake control and make order out of pit road and the way that drivers leave.

“We want to allow every competitor the chance to leave pit road when they want to leave and not be at the mercy of somebody else.”

The changes will go into effect during the March 28–31 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 race weekend.

For more information, visit the NASCAR website.