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.
