Goodyear tire test set for Charlotte

It will be the first official on-track effort for Edwards since the 35-year-old departed Roush Fenway Racing to join JGR as well as the first for Hornish with RPM. Both will be working with new crew chiefs – Hornish, who replaces Marcos Ambrose, will be paired with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer; Edwards will also be working with his new crew chief, Dave Rogers.

Also paired with a new crew chief will be Earnhardt Jr. Greg Ives, who helped guide JR Motorsports driver Chase Elliott to the NASCAR Nationwide Series title, moves over to the No. 88 entry to replace Steve Letarte.

Ives worked briefly with Earnhardt during a late-October Sprint Cup test session at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Earnhardt mentioned the upcoming test during a chat on Team Chevy's Twitter handle.

Goodyear officials are looking to get a baseline for how the 2015 NASCAR rules package for intermediate tracks – which includes a reduction in horsepower as well as less downforce – impacts tire wear.

With NASCAR banning private testing for 2015, such tire tests are expected to make up the bulk of the on-track time for teams outside of race weekend activities.

Fans will be allowed to attend the test, according to CMS vice president of communications Scott Cooper. The track will open its fifth floor clubhouse seating. Fans can enter the second floor ticket office and take the elevator to the fifth floor between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

It is expected that many of those tests could be intertwined with open tests for all NASCAR teams, although the process for how that will work has yet to be announced.

Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear, said last month that officials had been trying to map out a plan to allow each of the parties involved to "get their work done" during such opportunities while still reducing the number of overall tests.

"NASCAR’s got their 2015 package already drawn in the sand," Richard "Slugger" Labbe, director of research and development at RCR, said Tuesday on Sirius XM NASCAR’ Radio's "Morning Drive" show.

"That's what we're doing and at Charlotte next week … we're working on 2015 and 2016 packages. NASCAR's looking into the future, way ahead of anything they've ever done in the past. So you've got to applaud them for looking into the future and working with teams to make our sport better."

To reduce horsepower, tapered spacers such as those currently found in the Nationwide (soon to be XFINITY) and Camping World Truck Series will be used. The change is expected to reduce horsepower from 850 to approximately 725.

Roller valve lifters will replace flat valve lifters; lower differential gear ratios (targeting 9,000 RPM) will be in use and the rear spoiler height will be lowered from 8 inches to 6 inches.

Also, an adjustable driver track bar will be optional and the size of the radiator pan has been decreased from 43 to 38 inches.

Despite having less horsepower, Labbe said speeds weren't noticeably affected during a previous test held at Auto Club Speedway due to the aerodynamic changes included in the package.

Goodyear officials have said the next tire test is expected to come in January at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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