Right Turns
A NASCAR BLOG BY Jim Duff
NASCAR needs to rethink testing policy
NASCAR’s attempts to “protect the little guys” in the sport by “keeping costs down,” however well intentioned, continue to produce decisions that defy logic.
Take the announcement Wednesday that the sanctioning body’s 2010 testing policy will continue to ban teams from testing on the very tracks that would do them the most good – the ones they race on - and even those that would be the most economical.
While the announcement does open access to a few useful and convenient short tracks, is there anyone who believes that giving Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series teams the right to test at the road course at Portland International Raceway in Oregon makes more sense than letting them try to make their equipment better at Lowe’s Motor Speedway?
Officials surely understand that the 1.5-mile track outside Charlotte is in the back yard of more than 90 percent of all of the teams. It is also the same size and basic configuration as Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Altogether, Charlotte and those six tracks host 10 of the 36 Cup races and the non-points all-star race. Portland, as mentioned, is a road course, and there are only two road courses on the Cup schedule, both of which are vastly different.
Wouldn’t it make more sense and be more economical to let the teams test one or two days a week at Lowe’s and try to figure out how to handle the new Cup car, as well as the Nationwide model scheduled to debut next year?
And why should NASCAR officials keep bending over backwards to help the little guys in the first place? Some of them are making a mockery of the “sport” this year by starting and parking in race after race. How does that make the sport better for anyone other than a few cynical owners who simply calculate that they can make more money by not competing than actually racing?
Maybe if those start-and-park teams had access to a more affordable testing option, they wouldn’t have to retire in the first 30 laps week after week with “transmission,” “brakes,” “ignition,” “alternator” or other issues.
Jim Duff
Veteran motorsports editor Jim Duff is special projects editor with NASCAR Scene and a former editor with On Track: The Auto Racing Magazine of Record and with NASCAR Illustrated.
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Comments
3 responses to "NASCAR needs to rethink testing policy ". Post a Comment.
mbvoelker said:
Sep 24, 2009 at 11:31 AMWell said.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Sep 24, 2009 at 5:20 PMThey should help the smaller teams because the sport has too few teams that command too much in the way of resources, and that, not the presence of small teams, is what is making a mockery of the sport. The sport is supposed to be about 25-30 car owners competing and battling for wins, not six or seven car owners or car-owner alliances controlling the entire field.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAndi said:
Sep 24, 2009 at 10:00 PMYou make a very valid point. But however, it makes perfect sense, but then again this is nascar, and you know how nothing in this sport actually makes sense. So of course nascar isn't going to go with it. Unfortunately. #2...owners in the sport have been shrinking in sizes over the years and the smaller ones have to merge to stay alive & sometimes that doesn't even help. Nascar as much as they say, isn't all about little teams.
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