Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. – After back-to-back XFINITY Series titles preceded his Sprint Cup Series rookie season, the expectation bar was set high for Roush Fenway Racing‘s Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

With zero wins to his credit and just a handful of top-five and top-10 finishes since he began racing full-time Cup in 2013, he’s come up a little short.

The past few years have felt different, but Stenhouse knows it’s still a process.

“We’re not ready to go win races yet,” he said Wednesday at a Goodyear tire test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I don’t believe that we … if everything falls correctly, we might be able to sneak a win in there.

“I think we’re going to have to get in (the Chase) on points, but I think we’re very capable of doing it.”


Those are starkly honest words about a team that has struggled to maintain for the duration of races this season.


The good news is, Stenhouse sees it all improving.


“As a team the last couple years, I thought we were headed the opposite direction, the wrong direction, for a while. Last year was the first year I felt that my cars got better from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, so that was pretty encouraging,” Stenhouse said. “Then, this offseason was the first offseason that all of our new management people … that was their first (time) all together. They were able to get together and make our cars better.

“Kind of the unknown for me going into this year was how good our cars were going to be at the start of the year. Over my last few seasons on the Cup side, our cars tended to get worse over the offseason or not as good as the competition. But this year, I thought that we made gains and our cars were actually better than where we ended last year, so that was encouraging, as well.”

Stenhouse noted the increase in overall speed his cars unload with at the beginning of the race weekend, which has resulted in a significant increase in his qualifying results. His average starting position through the season’s first 13 races (11.8) has more than split his average from the entirety of 2015 (23.6), when he finished 25th in the standings.

Now 18th in points with a couple of bad-luck misses – cut tire at Phoenix, accident at Martinsville – Stenhouse’s better starting positions have overwhelmingly put him in a better position than at any other time in his Cup career.

“We’ve been really good at qualifying this year, which is positive for us because it means we have speed in our cars,” said Stenhouse, who has finished 16th or better in six of the past seven races. “For us, we’ve got to get a little bit better at maintaining that throughout the race. That’s the biggest key I think, at least for the 17 team and my bunch, that we’ve been fast in qualifying and the beginning of the race, but we can’t seem to make adjustments to keep making our car better. We did a little bit better job of that at the (Coca-Cola) 600 this past weekend, but we still have to get better at it.

“We haven’t progressed as far as I want or as fast as I want throughout the season, but I don’t think we’ve slid backward at all. We’re definitely continuing that progress.”

The natural next steps toward continuing said progress would appear to be maintaining that speed throughout the course of the race and finding a way into Victory Lane – along with the Chase for the Sprint Cup.


Even if they have to get there on points.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Dale Jr. reflects on becoming an elder statesman in the sport

LOUDON, N.H. — The Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet team, currently winless and 13th in points, could use a shot in the arm.

After five consecutive finishes outside the top 10, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Co. might’ve just gotten the boost they needed Wednesday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“This is a great opportunity to be at the track and just changing stuff (on the car),” said Earnhardt Jr., at the 1-mile track for a Goodyear tire test. “Practice on the weekends is just so hectic and so short and quick and you really can’t make these long changes that take 20 or 30 minutes because you can’t give away that much track time. … We don’t really get to try everything we like to on the race weekends so this is really the only opportunity to do stuff that you can’t get done (then).”

The extra track time is crucial for the struggling group, especially coming at a venue that has heavy Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup implications both to get in it (July race) and advance (September race marks the second race of the Round of 16).

After Junior experienced a stellar year in 2015 (three wins, career high in top-five and matching a career-high in top-10 finishes) with new crew chief Greg Ives, expectations were lofty coming into 2016.

Unfortunately for the 88 team, so was the learning curve for an altered aero package.

“Greg’s an extremely smart, talented guy. He’s won races in the XFINITY Series and a championship,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We won races together last year and we had a very consistent season. We started this year off very good, but some rule changes have thrown us for a little bit of a loop and we’ve just got to kind of get back some of that lost speed.

“We had some great speed at the start of the (Coca-Cola) 600 and our car got a little bit off but we were still consistently in the top 15, where we really, I don’t think, have been able to do that over the last month. … That’s a great sign that we’re going in the right direction and we’re trending in the right direction.

” … I’ve been in situations before where you’re not running well and you’re not very confident that there’s going to be an answer (to fix the situation) or that the people can find the answer. It’s just … I’ve been in some situations that were very, very difficult to be positive about, and this isn’t one of them.”

RELATED: Where does Junior rank in this week’s Power Rankings?

Earnhardt Jr. said his fans demand he runs in the top five, and he agrees that’s where he belongs. But only four out of 13 races in 2016 have resulted in top-five finishes, a year after notching one in nearly half the races (16). There’s work to be done.

He’s confident that the engineers at Hendrick Motorsports have what it takes to “science it out” and regain the speed they seem to have lost over the offseason.

Of course, it helps to have a little guidance from the teams that didn’t.

“The good thing about it is, in the garage, secrets don’t last for long because it’s such a small area and everybody’s working on top of each other,” said Earnhardt Jr., whose last win was at Phoenix in November. “When you figure out someone’s idea, you’ve got enough smart people to take that idea and make it your own and improve it.

“The season when Brad Keselowski won the championship (2012), Hendrick cars dominated the whole year. We had an advantage on the competition all the way up until the Chase. Brad and those guys figured out some of the things we had going on, they took it in-house and made it better and beat us. I think the same kind of thing happened with (Joe Gibbs Racing) last year, where they weren’t doing that well, struggling to be competitive.

“Stewart-Haas (Racing, whom HMS has a technical alliance with through the end of this year) and our cars were running really good all year and then they sort of looked and saw several things that we were doing better, took it back home and made it their own and improved on it and they were fast when they needed to be fast at the end of the year.”

At the halfway point of the regular season and with a spate of tracks that he is strong at (Pocono, Michigan, Daytona, New Hampshire) on the immediate horizon, Earnhardt Jr. has a real opportunity to take what they’ve learned from a two-week stint at Charlotte and a test at the “Magic Mile” — that only included three other drivers in Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Aric Almirola — to find a leg up on the competition and settle into consistent speed over the summer.

“At this particular point in the season, it looks like we’re in that boat of watching someone else be competitive. Once we figure out what we need to be doing to get that type of speed, we’ll put our own little spin on it and it’ll hit right when it should be right around the time when the Chase begins,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“Hopefully we’re going to peak right at the right time of the season, when we need to for a championship.”

Posted on by

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel today heard and considered the appeal of a P2 penalty issued May 18 to the crew chief and owner relative to NASCAR Camping World Truck Series vehicle No. 51 at Dover International Speedway.
 
The penalty concerns the following sections in the 2016 NASCAR rule book: Sections 20.17.3.2.1 a,b,c; 12.5.3.3.1 g; and 12.5.3.3.2 a,b,c,d.
 
The original penalty assessed included a $6,000 fine and NASCAR probation through Dec. 31 for the crew chief, and loss of 10 championship owner points.
 
The decisions of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel are:
 
1. That the Appellants violated the rules set forth in the penalty notice.

2. That the Panel affirms and upholds the original penalty assessed by NASCAR.

The panel consisted of the following three individuals:
Mr. Tim Bennett
Mr. Richard Gore
Mr. Russell Hackett
 
The Appellants have the right to appeal the decision of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer in accordance with Section 15 of the NASCAR Rule Book.

Posted on by Nascar

Name: Sharon
Current City: Wolcottville, Indiana
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Member since: 2011


Getting to know Sharon

Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council?

“I was excited by the possibility that I could contribute to the sport in some way that would advance NASCAR. I was also hoping that I would be able to learn about NASCAR in a way that extends and explains what is going on behind the scenes”


Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?

“My daughter was a die-hard Tony Stewart fan and wanted to watch races with me at my home. Given that I love her, and have always been interested in what she loves to do, I was in! Two races in – I was hooked for life!”


Q. What makes NASCAR special for you?

“The team spirit that goes beyond owners and drivers. There is paint-trading competition and at the same time there is a sense of family and shared goals. Experienced drivers try to mentor the newer drivers. NASCAR racing feels personal – we are introduced to the drivers lives, their families, their story and their crews. Crew chiefs feel like people we know and can feel for during a race. The ambassadors like Tony, Jeff G., Jr., Jimmy and especially Carl E. make NASCAR a welcoming sport as well as a sport that we can yell for, get aggravated, and get so excited that we jump out of our seats!”


Q: Do you have any favorite NASCAR memories or traditions?

“I was at Bristol when Tony was wrecked by Kenseth and threw his helmet. That was memorable! But other moments include Dale Jr’s response to missing his chance to advance to the next round in the Chase by an inch this year. He said that he didn’t miss the Chase by an inch, he had missed advancing all season and this was just the culmination of many problems. I immediately said that made sense and you just couldn’t be upset by it because he wasn’t. I mean we were disappointed, but he was right. Of course other memories are of Dale Sr. at Daytona – I’m still heartbroken. And of Mark Martin drag racing for a chance to win and not quite making it. My first Bristol race – wow! That was a memory! All of those folks camping for MILES and every single one waving hello, helping out, friendly and family like. My first Brickyard, my first Texas Motor Speedway experience…there are so many I can’t name them all. But the best tradition? Settling in with my family on race night with Raceview on, the volume up loud and our favorite drivers gear on. That’s NASCAR!”


Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Driver: “Dale Jr.”

Track: “Bristol Motor Speedway“

Memorabilia: “A crystal 88 car on a stand Bristol mini-cars from the races. My ton of gear – hats, coolers, lanyards, shirts, earrings, you name it – all with my driver on them!”


Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?

“Bristol Baby!”

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

“Free time? If I have any free time I spend it with my husband either watching our favorite shows, or spending time with our kids and grandkids. Our favorite times are watching the races together. He’s a 24 fan and is devastated over Jeff retiring.”


Q: Tell us about your family. Do you have children and/or pets?

“I have a wonderful family! I have 3 daughters and my husband has a daughter. Altogether we have 7 grandchildren. We have a dog, Honey Dog, who is a therapy dog for mental health and comes to the office with me. We also have two cats, Peanut and Bianca. My husband is retired from the Military”


FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK SHARON FOR HER CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HER IN 2016.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick showed up at a sunny and already-steamy Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday afternoon dressed fittingly in a short-sleeved black polo – embroidered with her Nature’s Bakery sponsorship, of course — jean shorts and her hair in a pony tail.

After greeting a crowd of mostly local reporters and speedway officials, she took her place behind a table alongside executive chef Mikell Blocker and the two prepared the track’s newest namesake offering of “Danica’s Coke and Lime Cilantro Shrimp Wraps” with cameras flashing and television cameras rolling. Patrick, an accomplished cook, paused often to offer the assembled onlookers some culinary advice and food wisdom.


Before a quick exhibition of frisbee golf under the pavilion – Patrick dominated that competition with reporters – she took questions, touted the upcoming July 2 Coke Zero 400 (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) race here and spoke about her season, her career and her expectations.


Patrick was clearly in her element. Both preparing good food and racing on Daytona’s high banks have been pleasurable pursuits for the 2013 Daytona 500 pole-winner.


“It was definitely the preferable view,” Patrick said, fondly recalling her first time leading a lap at Daytona in the 2011 XFINITY Series race at DIS.


Of the 64 total laps she’s led in the XFINITY Series, 34 were on the 2.5-mile Daytona superspeedway. She’s led seven laps in Cup competition here and paced the field 16 laps at NASCAR’s biggest track, Talladega Superspeedway.


Just being at the sport’s flagship facility in Daytona brings good vibes. And she’ll take ’em.


Patrick has scored five top-20 finishes through the first 13 races this season, earning a best of 13th place at the 1-mile Dover International Speedway three weeks ago.


The series doesn’t arrive for its second Daytona stop for another month, but it’s a date that Patrick always at least tacitly knows. It’s a race that she always feels highly competitive participating in despite the daunting nature of speedway racing.


She figures she’s taken to NASCAR’s most famous track in Daytona in much the same way she took to excelling in the Indianapolis 500 when she competed in IndyCars.


“I’ve always had the good fortune of driving for good teams that have good cars,” Patrick said of her No. 10 Chevrolet fielded by Stewart-Haas Racing.


“My IndyCar background is very similar to the style of superspeedway racing in NASCAR: Full speed, flat out, don’t lift if you don’t have to and just keep your momentum up. For me that was the one thing coming to NASCAR that was like my IndyCar days. It’s about making good decisions.


“And getting to the end isn’t just half the battle, it’s the majority of the battle,” Patrick says of racing at Daytona. “You definitely come into a speedway race with the assumption you may not be taking that car home on one piece.”


That’s happened to Patrick the last two times she’s competed here. She has had back-to-back 35th place finishes after being caught up in a wreck in both races. On the other side of that, she has two top-10 finishes at Daytona (eighth-place runs in 2013 and 2014) which equate to one-third of her career top-10 total in Cup.


She was optimistic this week speaking about her chances and expectations at the upcoming Daytona race, yet acknowledged the 2016 season hasn’t gone exactly as she’d prefer. Patrick is paired with her third crew chief in as many years — Billy Scott — and explained there is a natural time progression to get accustomed to one another at this level of competition.


“We showed up in Daytona and had never had an on-track conversation before,” Patrick said. “I had never been on track and talked to him about what the car did and there we were at Daytona. [The next race at] Atlanta was baptism by fire.


“I feel like when a good combination comes together it tends to stick for awhile, and I hope that’s Billy and I.


“I know there’s no substitute for time on some level. That doesn’t mean you can’t push and try to get better. For me, it’s about approaching things in a different way and seeing if we can’t get better results.


“I feel like we need to step it up, some adjustments need to be made to get better. If we keep doing the same things, we’ll get the same results. We need to change our approach and need to improve for sure. We’ve been about 20th all year and it’s not good enough. I want to at least get back to where we were, lead laps and get top-15 finishes and be competitive each weekend and be mad if we didn’t qualify in the top 12.


“We need to put ourselves in position to win races. But that takes work and I know that.”


Having covered Patrick, 34, long before she arrived fulltime in NASCAR, I know the extreme drive she possesses, the determination, the expectation.


Listening to her speak about her career – her fondness for stock car racing and her intense desire to win at the Cup level – it’s apparent that she is fully committed to success here. And not afraid to put in the work. She doesn’t make excuses.


“For me, I’ve realized how important so many elements are to being successful,” Patrick said. “It’s not just the team, not just the driver, not just luck, it’s all those things. Everything has to be on.


“I feel like that’s why there’s so much pride and excitement when you do get to Victory Lane — because it’s so hard.


“I feel like at any point in NASCAR you can see great drivers struggle for a year and then all of a sudden come back. We as drivers don’t forget how to drive, it’s just getting all the puzzle pieces together. That’s what I feel like I’ve learned the most about NASCAR is how many elements have to come together and how much work it is from both a personal standpoint on the team to getting it done on track.”


That’s work that she has always been willing to put in.


“I have been blessed with an extreme amount of opportunities in my career and I would not change a thing,” Patrick said. “Every now and again, I may feel like it’s a little tougher out there for me and I feel like I’ve heard other people say it looks a little harder for me out there.


“At the end of the day, my job as a driver is to pass the car that’s in front of me. If it’s difficult, it’s difficult and I just have to work that much harder. I’m not looking for anyone to move over,” she said allowing a slight smile and joking, “Unless you’re lapped traffic.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams have been issued P3 penalties coming out of the Charlotte race weekend, which resulted in their respective crew chiefs being suspended for at least one race, according to the NASCAR penalty report released Wednesday evening. Additionally, a P2 penalty was handed down to Tony Stewart .

 

The Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 (Greg Biffle), Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 (Kurt Busch) and JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) teams, respectively, were hit with the P3 punishment.

 

Biffle’s was the most severe. Multiple infractions were found during post-race inspection, including a body design that was either not submitted to NASCAR for approval or did not comply with the approved body designs. His crew chief, Brian Pattie, has been fined $50,000 and suspended for the next two races at Pocono and Michigan. The team will also lose 15 driver and 15 owner points.

 

Crew chiefs for Allmendinger (Randall Burnett) and Busch (Tony Gibson) were each fined $20,000 and suspended for the upcoming Pocono race. Both of their infractions were found in Section 10.11.3.4 a of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states: “All tires, and wheels, and all five lug nuts must be installed in a safe and secure manner at all times during the Event.”

 

Stewart’s P2 penalty included infractions in body design and surface conformance found during pre-race inspection. His crew chief, Mike Bugarewicz, has been placed on probation through Dec. 31.

 

Busch is second in the Sprint Cup Series points standings, behind only Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick. His 11 top-10 finishes (through 13 races) leads all drivers. He finished sixth on Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600.

 

Biffle finished 11th in the 400-mile event, and was the random car selected for further post-race inspection on Tuesday at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina. The penalty will drop him from 23rd place in the standings to 24th, behind Danica Patrick .

 

Allmendinger was 16th on Sunday, and he’s currently one point behind Ryan Newman in the battle for the final spot in the 16-driver Chase Grid.

 

The NASCAR penalty scale ranges from P1 to P6 (most serious).

 

Other news from the penalty report:

• The No. 27 of Paul Menard was issued its second warning for failing pre-qualifying template inspection three times. He has received a written warning and was docked 15 minutes of practice time for the next event.

 

• The No. 20 of Matt Kenseth and No. 43 of Aric Almirola failed laser inspection twice pre-qualifying. It’s the first offense for the 20 team, the first for the 43. They both received a written warning.

 

• The No. 43 also failed template inspection twice pre-qualifying. The No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson also failed twice. They all received a written warning.

 

• In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, the No. 16 of Ryan Reed and No. 18 of Joe Gibbs Racing failed inspection three times pre-race. Each received a written warning.

Posted on by Staff Report

Jeb Burton will make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of 2016 this weekend at Pocono Raceway in the Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).


Burton will pilot the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford with sponsorship from Rocky Ridge Custom Trucks. The 23-year-old is no stranger to the Sprint Cup Series having made 28 starts for BK Racing last season. Burton finished 33rd and 35th in the Pocono races in 2015.


“I’m really looking forward to racing this weekend in the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford in the Sprint Cup Series,” Burton said in a team release. “I’ve raced twice at Pocono in the Cup Series, and twice in the Truck Series, so I know I can be competitive there and use the experience I have to bring home a good finish. 


“The track is so unique in that each turn is different, but I think using my experience in the Cup Series will really help and keep us at the front of the field.”


This year, Burton had made 11 starts with one top-10 finish in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, driving the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Financial issues with the team’s primary sponsor forced RPM to cut back from its planned full-time schedule, the team announced on Wednesday.


Burton is the fourth driver to pilot the No. 32 for the Archie St. Hilaire-owned team. Jeffrey Earnhardt (eight starts), Joey Gase (three starts) and Bobby Labonte (two starts) have driven the car in the season’s previous races.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes | SHOP: Logano gear

A week after his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski revealed his Darlington throwback look on FS1’s RaceHub, Joey Logano has done the same. 

The scheme honors the first paint scheme that Shell had when Bobby Labonte piloted the No. 44 to the company’s first NASCAR victory in 1996 at Nashville Speedway in what is now known as the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Interestingly, Labonte drove the same paint scheme to Victory Lane at Darlington in 1998 in the same series. 

“I think it’s a no-brainer to help celebrate Shell’s 20th anniversary of NASCAR involvement and run this cool paint scheme at Darlington on Labor Day,” Logano said in a team release. “It’s pretty neat that Shell is celebrating 20 years in NASCAR and even cooler that Bobby (Labonte) won at Darlington Raceway with this car, so it’s a huge honor for myself and everyone at Team Penske to run this look.

“Heritage is a main theme in everything we’re doing this year and it’s been great to have the support from Shell-Pennzoil in running paint schemes to help us commemorate the heritage of our team and the heritage of our sport.”


This marks Darlington’s second straight year — in a five-year plan — hosting a throwback-themed event for the famed Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 4, 6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Dale Jr. through the years

LOUDON, N.H. – Over the course of a career going on two decades long, a driver tends to pick up a few things.


There’s also a tendency to lose a little off the old fastball as the years tick off the calendar, but typically, what a driver surrenders in youthfulness, he or she collects in veteran guile.


“There’s things that you lose and there’s things you gain,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said at a Goodyear tire test Wednesday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “A young guy … sometimes being ignorant is a blessing. These guys come into the sport and if you can get in good equipment when you’re really young, you can just go out there without any knowledge and just power through and just drive on instinct.


“Sometimes that produces very quick laps and you can be successful, but as you get older you gain some experience and understand how to keep yourself out of bad situations and maybe finish some more races and get more out of your car and get a better result out of your car, and over the longevity of the course of the season, you maybe have more consistent finishes.”


Just looking at the career arc of the Hendrick Motorsports driver, it’s obvious he knows what he’s talking about — having lived just that.


The now-41-year-old burst onto the Sprint Cup Series scene at age 24, picking up 15 of his 26 career victories just past his 30th birthday. A dry spell full of frustration and changing faces and scenery around him from 2005-13 produced just four race victories and just three points finishes within the top 10.


Since 2014, we’ve seen the ‘Juniorenaissance,’ with seven wins, career highs in top-five and top-10 finishes, and the feeling that championship No. 1 for Earnhardt Jr. is actually within reach for the first time in a decade.


It didn’t happen overnight.


Junior has taken the lessons presented to him through his challenges over the years and finally put the pieces together to succeed in both his personal life (see: his upcoming wedding to Amy Reimann along with successful business ventures, including JR Motorsports) along with the clarity that he knows what to do behind the wheel – not brashly, but intelligently.


“I think you’re smarter and a lot more thought goes into what you’re doing, and you understand how to be a better asset to your team as a person and individual; how to be in the mix with conversations with the crew chief and how to be accountable and ready to work,” said Earnhardt, who is 13th in points as the series turns this weekend to a race at Pocono that he won in 2014.


“When you’re young, you’re just going and doing and you’re just trying to have as much fun as you can away from the track. As you get older, you realize the more you put in the more you get out of it.”

Posted on by Nascar

Goodyear officials and teams from four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organizations are slated to travel to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this week for the final regularly scheduled tire test of 2016.

The two-day test, set for Tuesday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 1, will include the following drivers and teams: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Hendrick Motorsports No 88 Chevrolet), Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota), Aric Almirola (Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford).

It is the season’s eighth tire test.

Organizational tests currently are scheduled for Kentucky Speedway (June 13-14), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 12-13), Watkins Glen International (July 26-27), Chicagoland Speedway (Aug. 23-24) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Oct. 18-19).

Organizational tests are limited to one team per organization, meaning likely no more than 20 teams would take part in any single test.