No. 17 team preparing for testing at Daytona

December 21, 2001
2:23 PM EST (1923 GMT)

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT team are scheduled to test at Daytona International Speedway January 14, 15 and 16. With only two weeks left to prepare and plans to have three cars ready to test, the Roush Racing team is busier than ever.

"One of the cars we're taking to Daytona is one we ran last year," crew chief Robbie Reiser said. "We tested it in the wind tunnel earlier this month and we were pleased with the results. We made some adjustments and now we feel it's ready to test on the track."

One of the goals of the No. 17 team is to build five new cars over the course of the off season. Most of their time this week has been devoted to finishing one of those cars.

"We're focusing on completing the new car we're calling car no. 16," Reiser said. "We tested lots of different things throughout the year and we implemented what we learned in the design of this car.

"The team's excited to test at Daytona. We're planning on running all kinds of things. When we find something that works we'll stick with it, but we're planning on trying everything."