With the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup only one month away, several Sprint Cup Series teams will try to get a leg up on the competition at Chicagoland Speedway this week by taking part in an organizational test for the series.
Thirteen teams are tentatively scheduled to make the trek to the 1.5-mile track for the two-day test initially scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 23-24. Because of weather in the area, the test was adjusted to an all day session on Tuesday running into the night. Drivers expected to be on hand are:
— Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet)
— Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet)
— Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford)—Trevor Bayne filled in so Stenhouse could attend Bryan Clauson’s services
— Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota)
— Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford)
— Joey Logano (Team Penske No. 22 Ford)
— David Ragan (BK Racing No. 23 Ford)
— Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet)
— Chris Buescher (Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford)
— Brian Scott (Richard Petty Motorsports No. 44 Ford)
— Michael Annett (HScott Motorsports No. 46 Chevrolet)
— Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet)
— Michael McDowell (Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Chevrolet)
Chicagoland is scheduled to host the opening Chase race, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, on Sunday, Sept. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
That the test will be held so close to the race date “is huge,” said six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson.
“To be on the track in close proximity when we go back and race, we obviously have a lot going on just as all teams do trying to gear up and get ready for the Chase,” he said.
Johnson has 14 career starts at the 1.5-mile track, but it is one of four — along with Watkins Glen, Homestead and Kentucky — where he has yet to win.
“We have all these great machines that simulate on-track activity at the shop but until you take it to the race track and put it to use you have no idea if it’s really paying off,” he said. “So we’re looking to validate quite a few things and hopefully we get sunshine and really true conditions to what we’ll see when we come back for the race.”
The Chicago test is the fourth of five organizational tests for Sprint Cup Series teams this season. The remaining test is scheduled at Homestead Miami Speedway on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 18-19.