Friday, October 31, 2014

Part of NASCAR's new testing policy still a work in progress

   NASCAR has already announced a ban on all testing next season for its three national series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks. 

   However, some of the testing it did hope to allow – more participation for teams in Goodyear tire tests, for instance – may be running into a roadblock. 

   Goodyear officials maintain their portion of tire tests in 2015 will look much like those this year, which is typically a four-team test unless special circumstances dictate otherwise. 

   Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush, in an interview on SiriusXM Radio’s show “Dialed In” this week, said  there was “substantial resistance” from Goodyear in their ability to provide tires to all the teams NASCAR was looking to allow at tire tests. 

   “I’ll be less surprised if it changes then if it stays the way it is,” Roush said.

   NASCAR says it has not yet formalized the testing plan for next season. 

   "When we announced on Sept. 23 the rules package for the 2015 season, we stated that we were eliminating all teams testing and would be working with Goodyear to build a unified testing plan in which the teams could participate," Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR's vice president of innovation, said.

   "We currently are working through that process and have had on-going discussions with Goodyear to develop a proposal that we will share with the teams in near future."