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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. Cheap Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys . Stevenson scored the first three goals of the game in the first period for Regina (35-22-6), which has won eight of its last 10 games. Patrick DAmico added two for the Pats, Braden Christoffer had a single and Morgan Klimchuk chipped in a goal and four assists. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Notes on P.K. 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Defending champion Marin Cilic also reached the semifinals -- his fourth in Zagreb -- defeating fellow Croat Ivan Dodig. German qualifier Bjorn Phau beat Dudi Sela of Israel to reach his first semifinals in nearly five years. Haas secured a place in his first semifinals since winning Vienna last October, beating Kuznetsov 7-6 (6), 6-4. Both players kept their serve very solid during the first set and not a single game went to deuce. Kuznetsov saved two set points before losing the first set, but Haas broke in the opening game of the second set and kept the advantage, having to save two break points leading 2-1. "Winning the first set in the tie breaker was very important for the momentum," Haas said. This is the 13th career tournament for Haas being the top seed, but he has never reached the finals. After reaching the quarterfinals for the first time at any ATP event, the British No. 2, Evans, went one step further Friday ousting Kohlschreiber 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Evans had stepped in after Radek Stepanek withdrew from the tournament with a heeel strain.dddddddddddd Evans has won three matches in the main draw and is now the first British player other than Andy Murray who reached the semifinals on a tour-level tournament since James Ward reached the last four at Queens Club in London in 2011. "Its nice to be consistent. This is a good achievement," said Evans, who will face Haas in the semis. Fifth-seeded Cilic, who triumphed in Zagreb in 2009, 2010 and 2013, converted four out of five break points to beat fourth-seeded Dodig 7-5, 6-4 in just 92 minutes. Cilic now has an 18-1 record in the last five attempts here. Cilic started strong, leading 5-2 in the first set, before Dodig appeared to fight back winning three games in a row. But Cilic soon broke again before closing the first set. Things turned around briefly in the second set, when Dodig was up 2-1 with a serve, but Cilic broke back immediately. Proving to be too strong for his opponent, Cilic converted his second match point with a great passing shot. "There were some ups and downs on both sides. Some great shots and some wrong decisions," Cilic said. Cilic will face Phau, who beat Sela of Israel 6-4, 6-3. Sela won the three opening games, but Phau came back to win 10 of the next 12. Phau last played an ATP semifinal in Houston in 2009. ' ' '