I'm sure there's a lot of great ideas on how to use practice/hot laps/past performance....but they need to stick to the rule book. No more changing rules on the fly, at the last minute, like in previous years.
Having a "hot lap" or practice heat for seeding is essentally just a 5th qualifier. What if you don't like THAT heat you're in? Are they going to tech cars for practice too? Someone can slip in a 23 turn arm into their stock 'practice' heat, right?
Just seed them randomly....and I was only half kidding when I mentioned "Alphabetically" earlier. Seed everyone alphabetically, or as best you can due to frequency conflicts, and be done with it.