CHARLOTTE (AP) — NASCAR is considering opening up its restrictive testing policy, which several teams already have skirted this season.

Currently, rules limit teams to seven tests on Nextel Cup-sanctioned tracks, and crew chiefs help NASCAR decide the venues and dates. NASCAR adopted that policy two years ago to help underfunded teams keep up with big-budget organizations, who could afford to test anytime.

But as the Car of Tomorrow was rolled into competition, the top teams found ways to test it outside of the rules.

"It appears that we've got teams that want to test more and teams that want to test less, and teams that test on tires that are not made by our tire supplier," Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"So we're going to start looking at a lot of different things, from eventually lifting the test ban completely, or get as restrictive as we cannot let teams test anywhere at any time, or land somewhere in between."

NASCAR most likely will relax the restrictions, because it's having a hard time policing teams. More than 20 teams tested Tuesday and Wednesday at Virginia International Raceway, a road course where they could simulate the June 24 race in Sonoma, Calif.

Because VIR is not a sanctioned track, any team can go there and still be within NASCAR's guidelines. But teams can't use current Goodyear tires because of a leasing agreement intended to prevent extracurricular testing. To circumvent the lack of available tires, teams have started using other manufacturers for test sessions. They also snapped up much of Goodyear's inventory from 2005 and earlier.

Goodyear officials declined a request from The Associated Press for comment Wednesday, and NASCAR said the teams have not technically broken the rules.

Hendrick Motorsports, winners of nine of the first 12 races this season, is believed to have lapped the field in testing this year. Team officials said they've used a variety of test drivers about 30 times this year, and rival car owner Jack Roush said that's unfair.

He said his own five-car team is behind the competition, because he didn't purchase tires from Hoosier or B.F. Goodrich for tests.

"The teams that have been successful ... they've gone to tracks outside NASCAR's control with tires that were not from Goodyear," Roush said. "Right now, Goodyear is sitting on millions of dollars worth of tires that are growing obsolete and hard in their warehouses. Teams have gotten around NASCAR's policy by buying other people's tires and testing at tracks that aren't on the Nextel Cup schedule.

"I got behind on that. I didn't do that."

But using tires other than what Goodyear provides on race day is a crapshoot, many crew chiefs said.

"Relaxing the testing policy only makes sense if we can use current Goodyears," said Mike Ford, crew chief for Denny Hamlin. "You can really end up going pretty far down the wrong road that way, but you have no choice because everyone is doing it."

Hamlin tested at VIR on "some really old Goodyears," but Ford said it was only the second time this season the No. 11 team has gone outside a NASCAR-sanctioned test. Joe Gibbs Racing's research and development team has tested cars at various times independent of Hamlin's team this year.

Ford said he believes NASCAR's prohibitive policy created the testing problems.

"They are forcing teams to spend money with other tire manufacturers instead of with Goodyear, the company NASCAR supports," he said. "One way or the other, everybody is going to test."

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“NASCAR teams are going to test and we’re showing that right now. This sport is so competitive that NASCAR teams are going to find a way to test.”
- Elliott Sadler

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May 31

David Ragan and Johnny Sauter spent Tuesday afternoon testing the twists and turns of Infineon Raceway, in preparation for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race, June 22-24.

It was the first time on the road course for Sauter, while Ragan visited Sonoma in February for a one-day test session. Both drivers will make their first race start on the 10-turn road course in June.

Ragan, driver of the No. 6 AAA Ford, piloted an American Speed Association (ASA) stock car supplied by Pioneer Motorsports out of Lake Oroville. He was coached by NASCAR Grand National Division West Series driver Kenny Shepherd and completed approximately 100 laps in the partial-day test.

"You could be here for two days and do tons of laps and lose your focus, so these shorter tests are perfect for me," said Ragan. "It's been much smoother for me this time out, and it didn't take me nearly as long to get comfortable on the track."

Sauter, who drives the No. 70 Yellow Transportation Chevrolet, tested Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday behind the wheel of a late-model stock car supplied by ShiftIntoGear, Inc. It marked Sauter's first visit to Infineon Raceway and the Sonoma Valley.

"It's so helpful just to even get a few laps in on a brand new track," said Sauter. "I really just want to get a feel for the track. If I can pick up this place like I did Mexico City, I should be in good shape."

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First, Roger Penske announced he was planning to build a NASCAR test track near his shops in Mooresville. Now, fellow car owner Bobby Ginn says he plans to build a NASCAR test track, probably a 11/2-miler, somewhere in South Carolina. And the new owners of Virginia International Raceway (VIR), the road course near Danville, are considering adding a flat track specifically for NASCAR’s Nextel Cup testing. It’s all in reaction to NASCAR’s testing rules, which limit the places at which stock-car teams can test as well as the tires they can test on, specifically, no 2007-model Goodyears.

Posted May 31, by Ben Maller

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jr. kurt, matt, and so many others....
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Ahh tire wars. I've been around long enough to remember when Hoosier and Goodyear went at it.

It's a 2 edged sword. Sometime the competition leads to better tires... other times they get so competative that they really push things and tires fail.

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By Tom McCarthy
NASCAR.COM
June 5, 2007


There are a couple of things of about racing that are pure and easy: the passion we all feel for the sport, and the ecstasy of victory.

Everything else is complicated and hard. Especially this year.
When news broke last week that NASCAR was considering a change in its official testing policy for Nextel Cup teams, my immediate thought was, "That's a no-brainer." Then I thought about it a little more.

This is going to cause a lot of headaches for a lot of people.

Which isn't to say that a change in the way Cup teams have been testing this season isn't needed, because it is. In the worst possible way.

The trouble began in 2006 when NASCAR announced its intentions to campaign the COT on a limited basis during the 2007 season. Sensing opportunity, a few of the well-funded teams began an unofficial, albeit completely legal, testing program outside NASCAR's official testing schedule. These unofficial tests are held at tracks that do not host a Nextel Cup race and the tires they test on are either very old Goodyears or on tires from other manufacturers.

Think about it, if you could invest the manpower, money and resources to give your racing team a genuine advantage in 16 of 36 races, would you do it? I absolutely would. But if my racing team couldn't afford it, or if I hung my hat on the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law, I'd also be complaining to NASCAR early and often.

The loophole was big enough to drive about seven COTs through. And it's created a series of problems that NASCAR probably should have seen coming. There are teams complaining about too much testing, and teams complaining about not enough opportunities for official testing. By official testing, I mean testing at tracks that host Nextel Cup races and on tires supplied by Goodyear.

And let's not forget about the fans. As historic as the Hendrick juggernaut has been this season in general, and in COT races in particular, many are flat-out fed up with it. Hendrick's success is directly related to its aggressive testing and R&D programs.

So here we are approaching the mid-point of the season and, with so many of its constituents up in arms, it looks like NASCAR is going to have to make a change. Here are my predictions for how it's going to shake out.

NASCAR won't change the rules to ban teams from unofficial testing in 2007.
The genie is already out of the bottle and I can't see it being put back in mid-season. Doing so will wreak havoc with those teams that are committed to, and heavily invested in, their testing programs.

NASCAR will make up for the cancelled Dover test session.
According to FordRacing.com, NASCAR has inquired about a COT test a day before official race activities begin for the California race later this season. With that being a non-COT race, that means two haulers and subsequent personnel per team sent cross-country on Labor Day weekend.

NASCAR will add one more official test this season.
According to Kerry Tharp, VP of public relations with NASCAR, depending upon race schedule and tire supply, test sessions require 30 to 60 days lead time to coordinate. Looking at the schedule, that points to the only open week remaining between now and the end of the season, between Chicago and Indy. I'm thinking it'll be a short track. "Um, Honey? I've got some bad news ..."

NASCAR will add one additional offseason test.
The offseason just got shorter. Look for a downforce track like Atlanta or Charlotte.

NASCAR will ban unofficial testing beginning in 2008.
This will probably be the easiest change for NASCAR to make. Unfortunately, it's benefits won't be realized until next season.

I asked Tharp about these issues over the weekend and all he could tell me was that NASCAR was still in the process of getting input from the teams and that NASCAR would use a consensus of opinion to make its decision.

Because the COT is such a radical departure from the current car, phasing it in over various races and tracks this season was the right call on NASCAR's part. Not being more proactive on testing limitations was an oversight that has almost everyone paying the price for it in one way or another.

One more prediction: Love it or hate it, 2007 will go down as one of the most contentious seasons ever.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

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I don't think the tire company is the problem, it's just the sort of track they're racing on in my opinion.

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I go even further back. Firestone, Goodyear.

Actually I go back that far... hoosier and goodyear was the last time

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