SPARTA, Ky. -- Ryan Newman was at Kentucky Speedway testing on Wednesday, and he admitted it may be nice to change NASCAR's schedule a little to give fans in other parts of the country a taste of the sport.

"I think there are a few racetracks that we go to that we don't need to go to twice," Newman said. "They don't pack the place full so there's no point in going back. Obviously, we don't want to take away from the people that enjoy having it twice, but there are other places we can go to serve the entire United States a little bit better.

"Some tracks are nice to go twice and some tracks we only need to go to once, that's the bottom line."

Newman's comments were perfect timing considering Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Pence stopped by the track to take a peek during the mid-week test session.

The track has lobbied for a Nextel Cup date for some time, and in July 2005 Kentucky Speedway filed a lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation claiming ISC violated federal antitrust laws by not permitting tracks to bid for Cup races. The lawsuit is ongoing.

At the same time, so is testing at the track as teams use the 1.5-mile speedway in preparation for similar tracks that make up the Nextel Cup schedule. Newman turned laps in wintry temperatures to gather intermediate track knowledge that may pay dividends as early as this Sunday's race on the newly configured 1.5-mile track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"We're working on our intermediate car, some specifically for Vegas and some specifically for the rest of the season," Newman said. "We're trying to map some things out. We're trying to collect some data. It's tough anymore to get good testing in, especially at the Nextel Cup tracks, and this is the closest place we could come."

Pence agreed. (Continued)