Beating a dead horse

I know, I know. Everyone and their mother has chimed in, but a slow day here in the Maine haze got me to thinking.

For all the problems with Cup qualfying these days -- the top-35 lock-ins, the lack of excitement in time trialing, the unfair inspection process giving preference to top teams -- there's one thing that really hasn't been said. Why not take a page out of the Formula 1 book?

Watching qualifying for the F1 "cars" from Indy today, I thought -- what a great format! Knockout qualifying -- three rounds in which teams advance into a 10-car race for the pole. Why couldn't it work for Cup?

First session is 20 minutes, giving everybody a shot to take as many laps as they can in that time. Slowest 10 are out -- and the cars that are going home are in that group. Then do the same thing for the top 30, cutting the session to 15 minutes, and filling out starting grid spots 21 through 30. Another 15-minute session, and you're left with the top 10. Give them 10 minutes, and arrange them on the grid according to their 1 fastest lap in the session.

It'll work at every track -- on road courses, on restrictor plate tracks, on short tracks, on cookie-cutters.