Hendrick Motorsports plans to split its laps between Chevrolets and Pontiacs at BGN testing during a two-day open test session Monday and Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway. Ricky Hendrick will run the #5 and Jack Sprague will campaign the #24 this season in the BGN. Due to a perceived advantage enjoyed by the Pontiac under the BGN rules, team owner Rick Hendrick instructed his teams to build a pair of superspeedway Pontiacs. Therefore, Jack Sprague has a #24 Chevrolet and a #24 Pontiac and teammate Ricky Hendrick has a #5 Pontiac and Chevrolet in Daytona’s garage area. Several teams that primarily ran Chevrolets last season used Pontiacs at Daytona and Talladega, including defending Daytona winner Randy LaJoie, former winner Joe Nemechek the Brewco teams of Jeff Purvis and Jamie McMurray and Buckshot Racing. Sprague’s crew chief Dennis Connor said his two drivers had done a brief test session last week at Concord Motorsport Park near their shops in Harrisburg, N.C., but that this would be the first true test and the first time out of the shop for the Pontiacs. Connor said he had heard that Nemechek and LaJoie had already tested Chevrolets and Pontiacs back-to-back at Talladega earlier this month. They are both scheduled to test Thursday and Friday at Daytona with the even-numbered finishers in the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series car owner points.(NASCAR.com)(1-21-2002)
