Daytona Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) -- NASCAR announced a radical change to its qualifying format for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday, making it similar to knockout qualifying used for Formula One and IndyCar Series road/street course races. At NASCAR racetracks measuring 1.25 miles or longer in length, qualifying will consist of three rounds. Tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles will feature just two segments. NASCAR noted its revised qualifying format will not be used for the Daytona 500 (Feb. 23) and the Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway (July 23), which is the only national touring series event contested on a dirt track. It also wont be used for the Sprint Cup non-point races -- the Feb. 15 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway and the May 17 NASCAR Sprint All- Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Were looking forward to the new qualifying format for all three of our national series this year," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said during a teleconference. "The new format is something that weve been looking at for quite some time. The goal is providing a more fan- friendly and exciting qualifying session for each race event across the board, with the exception of the Daytona 500 and Eldora, which are unique in their own right. "NASCAR fans will be treated to highly competitive elimination-based qualifying segments that will be more engaging to the fans in the stands and those watching on television or online." For those races on tracks 1.25 miles or greater, the first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 entries that post the fastest single lap from the opening segment will advance to the second round. The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted from their times in descending order posted during the first segment. The 12 cars/trucks that recorded the quickest single lap during the second round, which is 10 minutes in length, will then advance to the third and final segment, which lasts five minutes. Positions 13 through 24 will be based on lap times during the second round. Positions 1 through 12 will be determined during the final round, with the driver posting the fastest lap winning the pole position. There will be a five-minute break between each of the three qualifying rounds. For those tracks shorter than 1.25 miles, the opening segment in qualifying will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all entries. The 12 cars/trucks that recorded the fastest single lap time will advance to the second segment. The remaining field will be determined by lap times in descending order during the first round. Positions 1 through 12 will then be decided in the final segment, which is 10 minutes in length. "We believe the timing is right for this new style of qualifying, and for our drivers and teams, we believe that it will create even better competition leading into the event," Pemberton said. NASCARs new format is scheduled to be used for the first time on Feb. 21 when the Nationwide and Truck Series have qualifying for their season-openers at Daytona. Sprint Cup will utilize the format beginning with the March 2 race at Phoenix International Raceway. Be... McKinney Womens Jersey . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. Jaelen Strong Womens Jersey . 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Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville.DENVER - Patrick Roy returned to the Colorado Avalanche to restore the glory years he helped forge, and hes enjoying the ride with a young team playing at a high level. Nick Holden scored two goals, Ryan OReilly had a goal and an assist and the Avalanche rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 on Sunday night. Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots and Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie also scored for the Avalanche, who have won two straight. Roy helped lead Colorado to two Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001 as the goaltender with a dynamic offence in front of him. Now as the coach, hes bringing back memories of that era. "You ask me what reminds me of the Avalanche of the past, thats the type of hockey we were playing," he said. "And thats the way were playing right now." Those championship teams also featured goal-scoring defencemen, something lacking from last years squad. Colorados blue-liners had just five goals in 48 games a year ago. The Avalanche got four goals from its defence Sunday, including Johnsons first in his return from a two-game suspension for a slash on New York Islanders centre Frans Nielsen three weeks ago. "Its tough sitting out, and to be able to come back and contribute and help the team win is fun," he said. Johnson scored the go-ahead goal at 16:05 of the third when he pinched in to steal the puck and then sent a low shot past 6-foot-7 goalie Ben Bishop from along the boards. "I know (Bishop) from St. Louis, and I shot at him a lot," Johnson said. "Hes obviously a big guy and he doesnt give you a lot of room. Sometimes, big guys like that, you throw it at their feet and they dont see it." Nate Thompson had two goals, Tom Pyatt also scored and Bishop finished with 29 saves for the Lightning, who had four penalties in the last 21:28 of the game. "The penalties killed us," centre Alex Killorn said. "Six minutes where we didnt play in their zone." Holden tied it wiith a power-play goal at 5:12 of the third.ddddddddddddIt was Colorados sixth power-play goal in the past three games. Holden notched his second two-goal game when he scored into an empty net with 53 seconds remaining. Paul Stastny added another with 6.3 seconds left. "This is a tough one," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Tied game with under five minutes to go. I thought we were getting points from this one. We let them slip out of our hands." Thompson has eight goals, and four of them have come in a pair of two-goal games. He got his first one Sunday when he beat Varlamov on the short side 6:40 into the second period to tie it at 2. Later in the period, he sent a wrister at Varlamov that settled in the crease, and then he skated through to knock it in at 17:37. The Lightning missed an opportunity to move into second place in the Atlantic Division and third in the Eastern Conference after Colorados late-game eruption. "I think were going through a little bit of a rough patch," Thompson said. "A couple breakdowns there at the end and they end up in the back of the net, unfortunately." Colorado stayed within three points of St. Louis in the Central Division with the win. The Blues beat Phoenix on Sunday. The game was scoreless for most of the first period despite plenty of chances. Lightning centre Vladislav Namestnikov had two of them and Colorado centre Matt Duchene was stopped on a breakaway. Tampa Bay finally cashed in when Pyatt scored at 16:49 of the first. Barrie tied it 30 seconds later with a shot between Bishops legs, and OReilly gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with his 23rd of the season 1:42 later. NOTES: Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon finished with two assists. ... Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula missed his fourth straight game with a non-displaced fracture in his right ankle. ... MacKinnon extended his points streak to 11 games. Its the longest streak by a rookie since Stastny had one of 20 games during the 2006-07 season. NFL Jerseys Cheap China Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Jerseys NFL Cheap ' ' '