NASCAR is expected to announce a “no testing” policy for Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series or NASCAR Camping World East or West Series for the 2009 season.
Teams will also not be able to test at tracks at which any of those series compete.
Thanks to friend Chris Knight from www.Catchfence.com for this information.
… an update from www.Jayski.com
NASCAR has banned all testing at its sanctioned tracks next season in an effort to help teams save several million dollars in their 2009 budgets. The moratorium, which includes the traditional “preseason” Daytona 500 testing, is for all three of NASCAR’s top divisions. Teams will not be permitted to test at any track where a Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series or Truck Series event is held. NASCAR informed teams of its decision Friday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The decision is an about-face from just a few months ago, when NASCAR was considering widening the testing schedule to as many as 24 days at any track.(Associated Press)(11-14-2008)
… some responses from crew chiefs
PAT TRYSON (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Dodge Charger) WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NASCAR TESTING POLICY FOR 2009? “It’s got pluses and minuses. Times are tough right now, so it’s probably not that bad a thing for most people. Obviously, we’d like to be testing but at the same time, it (testing policy) is the same for everybody. I think it will be fair. It may make the racing better with nobody having the opportunity to test.”
RODNEY CHILDERS (Crew Chief, No 19 Hellmann’s Dodge Charger) WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE 2009 TESTING POLICY? “I think it’s the right thing for NASCAR right now. There are a lot of teams and people struggling with the economy the way it is and sponsors not wanting to spend the money like they did. It’s going to be the right thing to keep the sport healthy. It’s going to be tough on the teams trying to figure out what to do with their cars to make them better and stuff like that. That’s one thing that we’re going to have to do to keep the sport healthy.”
…some responses from drivers
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS
CAN WE GET YOUR REACTION TO NASCAR’S TESTING BAN? “I haven’t seen any official word from NASCAR. I’ve been kind of out of the loop. I was kind of out of the loop yesterday so you’re telling me something that I don’t know anything about. Feel free to give me any information. I would love to have it.”WHAT THEY SAID IS YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO TEST AT TRACKS WHERE SPRINT CUP, NATIONWIDE OR TRUCK RACES ARE HELD. “You want me to comment on something that’s not official? What is this politics? (laughter) My crew chief hasn’t told me. What I will say about it without knowing all the details, here comes Mr. (Jim) Hunter (laughter). …. I hate when Jim comes to see me in the middle of a press conference.
“I do believe that we are at time in our sport where we’ve got to look at ways to cut some costs. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve been in conversation with NASCAR about what it is they can do, more importantly we as teams ultimately have the responsibility to pay attention to what we’re spending. Jack Roush is a master at that. Richard Childress is a master at that, of trying to figure out where to spend the dollars without wasting it. A testing ban, there’s a lot of unknowns. I’ve never been part of a sport where testing was banned. So I’m not sure of the consequences of that. I do believe that testing is a way for a struggling team to improve but I also believe that we’re in severe times and we need to have severe actions. I’m assuming that a testing ban will include the inability to obtain tires from Goodyear because if you can obtain tires from Goodyear then there are places to go test. So it’s a complicated matter and without having all the details it’s very difficult for me to comment on. I’m more than willing to comment on it after I have all the details but for me to go into deep complex conversations about it without having every bit of the information, because that’s what’s going to make the thing work or not work is all of the small things that are within the rule. Without having those it’s really hard for me to comment on. But I am a proponent of severe action because I think that our sport has got to have severe action right now.”
Car Listings
