NASCAR, teams discuss no-limits testing policy

LOUDON, N.H. -- When Sprint Cup officials met with series crew chiefs Saturday to discuss testing for next season, director John Darby threw out several options -- including no limits on testing at all.

"There was a pretty good gasp of air when you got to talking about wide-open testing," Darby said after the meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, "because the immediate perception is, holy cats, we're going to be testing 38 weeks a year. Now after you talk to everybody for a little bit and then ask them to count the actual number of tests they usually do at all the places they go to test, and taking those same amount of days and applying them to places where we race, there's probably not much different there."

NASCAR has limited tests in recent years on Sprint Cup tracks, to the point where testing is allowed only as a group and only on a number of finite tracks each year. This season the series is testing seven times, twice at Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte. But teams get around that limit by testing regularly on tracks other than those that host Sprint Cup events, making trips to places like Milwaukee, Kentucky and Virginia International Raceway that are outside of Cup Series officials' control. NASCAR did not allow teams to use official race tires for outside testing last season, but loosened the policy and allowed a limited number this year.

But those outside tests bring historically mixed results, whereas testing on all the actual tracks used in competition would provide more exact information. NASCAR believes the limited full-field tests, in addition to providing better data, also lower costs and allow for a greater degree of safety because all the teams share in the expense. But they're willing to look at other options for next year.

NASCAR can't eliminate testing altogether, because teams so often use facilities outside the sanctioning body's purview. Darby said the crew chiefs would take the options back to their respective car owners, and everyone would meet again in about two weeks.

"In the past, it's just been a matter of here, select your racetracks and here we go," Darby said. "This year, I felt it was time we sat down with everybody and talked: We're open to any suggestions you may have, from leaving our testing policy exactly like it was in '08, to going all the way to what I call wide-open testing. No limits. Any track any time, as many times as you want to go. We're prepared for either way. It doesn't matter to us, we'll listen to what all the teams come back with as suggestions, formulate a test plan and go forward."

And the final decision will be NASCAR's. "We're still not a democratic society," Darby joked.