More than 12 teams expected at Charlotte test

Speedway officials are expecting more than one dozen teams to participate in Wednesday’s open portion of the session, including Kevin Harvick, the defending series champion and winner of Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The two-day effort is the third test of the season under NASCAR’s National Series Unified Testing policy. A Goodyear tire test was conducted Jan. 19 at Las Vegas and an open team test for all teams was held Feb. 26 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one day before race weekend activities at AMS got underway.

A Goodyear test originally slated for Monday and Tuesday following last week’s Atlanta race was cancelled.

Under the new testing policy, private team testing is no longer allowed at any NASCAR-sanctioned or non-sanctioned venue.

The Charlotte tire test will consist of teams from Hendrick Motorsports (Kahne), Furniture Row Racing (Truex), Richard Petty Motorsports (Almirola) and BK Racing (Yeley)

“The tire test is really 2016-focused,” NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell said Monday. “As you’ve heard some of the drivers say, the corner speeds are still not where we’d like them to be, so we want to bring the speeds down. This will be a package where we’re able to affect the aero, look at downforce and match that up with the tire.”

O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer for the sanctioning body, said the ultimate goal “is to slow some of the speeds in the corner, get the drivers off the gas a little bit and in talking with drivers and the industry, really enable them to open up some passing opportunities in the corners.

“That’s the goal and Goodyear is aligned with us, where we want to go, so we’ll get that feedback from the teams from the tire test, then see what happens when we have more teams out on the race tracks for the 2015 package at Charlotte on Wednesday as well.”

According to the ’15 testing policy, only one vehicle from each organization is allowed to participate in the open tests.

Also, if an organization participates in a tire test and open team test, it must be with the same team and driver. So Kahne would be the HMS representative for both days; teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr. would not be allowed to participate.

All teams were allowed to participate in the test prior to the Atlanta event since that track’s race was the first race using this year’s rules package for non-restrictor plate tracks.

Participation in non-Goodyear related tests is not mandatory.

Wednesday’s test is to help teams prepare for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 weekends at CMS; Tuesday’s Goodyear effort is focused on continuing development of a compatible tire for the 2016 rules package.

The sanctioning body and Goodyear, along with Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota officials, are already looking ahead to next year when it is expected that changes will be made to take additional downforce off the cars.

“We’ve analyzed where the ’16 aero package will put us in terms of … how much downforce do you lose, what does that mean to the performance of the car on the race track,” Pat Suhy, manager, NASCAR engineering and program management for Chevrolet, said.

Discussions about the best way to achieve those downforce changes and “put more mechanical grip in the tires” have been on-going, Suhy said.

“Until we get to a test where we really look at the ’16 package and have some proper tires … everything you do to model some performance of the car on the track, it’s only as good as the tire model. Until we get a handle on what the tires are going to be like, it’s going to be very hard to predict.”

Goodyear also has tire tests scheduled for: Richmond International Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Chicagoland Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway for 2015.

Open team tests are scheduled for the following day at each of the tracks.

On-track testing at CMS is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday and run through noon. After a break for lunch, testing will resume at 1 p.m. and end at 5 p.m.

Fans will be allowed to attend Wednesday’s portion of the two-day test. Gates will open at 9 a.m.

Here’s a complete look at the 2015 testing schedule:

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