Radical new look in works for Cup testing in 2009

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- If the planned changes to the Sprint Cup testing policy remain as proposed for 2009, teams and crew chiefs will have to deal with a vastly different set of variables from those currently in place.

The crux of NASCAR's new policy is to allow teams to test independently at tracks that host Cup races, something they currently are allowed to do only at open tests conducted under NASCAR's auspices.

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Under the new rules, there won't be any NASCAR-sanctioned tests, with the exception of the two Preseason Thunder sessions held at Daytona International Speedway during the first two weeks of January.

Teams will be limited to 24 test days at Cup tracks. They will be allowed to take two fully loaded transporters, but only two cars from each organization will be on the ground at a given time.

Sprint Cup Series director John Darby met with crew chiefs briefly last week at Michigan to go over changes to the policy first floated in mid-July. One important change was an increase from one transporter to two allowed at the test sessions.

"We're still swapping ideas back and forth with the teams," Darby said. "Basically, all we did was meet for 15 minutes as an informational deal to let everybody know what changes had been suggested, and so on and so forth. [The modifications] are very minimal from what we handed out three weeks ago. We've added a second transporter, for example, just to help the teams move around the country -- nothing major.

"A test day right now would consist of two transporters leaving the shop. They could be fully loaded. In other words, each transporter could have two cars in it. They can bring as many of their drivers as they want to."

NASCAR, however, will not allow teams to test at a Cup track within seven days of a scheduled race at the facility.

Gone will be preseason tests at Las Vegas and Fontana, unless individual teams organize and pay for them. Nor does NASCAR currently plan an open test at Indianapolis, despite the tire wear debacle that chopped July's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard into short segments of no more than 13 green-flag laps each.

Goodyear has a four-team tire test planned at Indy in September, to be followed by a 16-team test (four from each manufacturer) Oct. 6-7, the two days following the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega. Goodyear will return for another tire test at the Brickyard in the spring.

"The teams are welcome to go there [Indianapolis], but as far as NASCAR sanctioning a test there, no," Darby said. "The teams have that option, and they're more than welcome to do it. We've been to Indianapolis for 14 years [15, including the 2008 race]."

NASCAR teams will face two distinct challenges in working within NASCAR's proposed testing policy in 2009: choosing which tracks will be most the most advantageous test sites and allocating manpower and equipment to the testing operation.

Tony Stewart, for one, said he plans to put together a dedicated test team at newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing, where he'll serve as an owner/driver next year. When he announced his move to Stewart-Haas at Indianapolis in July, Stewart said the time burden of testing as a two-car team would require a test driver, and he expects other teams to follow suit, if they haven't already.

Also
• NASCAR open to team suggestions for new testing policy
• Caraviello: Testing decisions to set wheels in motion for '09
• Indy chair says NASCAR needs to figure out car/tire combo