KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Beginning April 18, Lakeside Speedway will begin utilizing passing points to determine feature line ups.

Racers and fans each have a difference of opinion on how to determine line ups.

Racers prefer drawing for their heat races and then having the best cars work their way to the front of the feature line up by their heat finishes.

This usually means the best cars start up front and sometimes we do not see any passing.

Fans have always preferred some kind of invert to ensure there is passing occurring in the features.

Lakeside Speedway has utilized an inversion process since 1982 when NASCAR sanctioned the track.

Lakeside Speedway will be implementing passing points for heats but still continue to work with fans.

A die will be rolled by a lucky fan at intermission to determine how many cars to invert for the feature.

If the die comes up six then the car scheduled to start sixth will be on the poll and everyone adjusted accordingly, if the die ends up on a one then the start will be straight up without any change.

Each driver will earn 1.5 points for every position he or she advances in the heat race from his or her initial starting position determined by the pill draw when he or she signs in.

The line-up will be official when the pill draw closes, one hour before race start time (normally 6:30 p.m.).

Any car arriving late (after pill draw closes) will start in the back of a heat race and will earn position points only, no additional points for advancing positions will be awarded.

All cars moving onto the track from the staging area will be considered to have started the race.

All cars not starting the race will receive points equal to last place qualifying points.

All cars that scratch or drop out prior to the initial green flag after the line-ups are official, or drop out during the race will be considered passed cars.

Any driver that would scratch or drop to the rear of the field will cause the line ups to be crisscrossed (example: front row outside decides to go to rear then second row inside will cross over and be outside second row and then everyone else subsequently will cross).

In the event that two or more cars finish with a tie in qualifying passing points, the tie will be broken by the driver who earned the points first.

If fewer than 24 cars sign in, the remainder of the feature will be set by the total points scored in the heat races with the 10th highest total points scored starting 10th and so on until the field is set.

If more than 24 cars are present, 10th thru 18th will be set by total points scored in the heat races, the final 6 positions will come from the top 6 finishers from the semi feature, heads up the way they finished the semi feature.

The semi feature(s) is lined up by the total points scored in the heat races 19th on the front row and so on.

Hopefully this will help you from being confused when your favorite driver wins the first heat and doesn't necessarily start near the front of the feature.

NOTE: Passing points have nothing to do with the season points for the track championship.