CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR abandoned its years-long bid to add excitement to qualifying and announced Wednesday it will return to single-car laps after the current format became a laughingstock.

All three national series will make the change at all oval tracks, starting this weekend at Dover.

NASCAR for more than five years has used a group qualifying format, but a new rules package this season created an unintended consequence: drivers could game the system.

“The teams are always going to do what benefits them the most and unfortunately that was waiting, drafting,” said Scott Miller, senior vice president of competition. “It wasn’t a very compelling show. We owe it to our fans to provide something that is worth watching.”

Miller did not concede it as a victory for the teams, who found every loophole to their benefit.

“I don’t think anybody is at fault. It is something we tried, to try to provide a good show, we were optimistic and it didn’t work out,” Miller said. “Maybe we should have been more proactive.”