Over thirty drivers from the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series tested their skills before 9 am at Watkins Glen International Tuesday morning. The test continued until 4:30pm/et. Many NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers tested their Busch Series cars including Michael Waltrip in his #99 Michael Waltrip Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards tested both of his cars, including the Busch Series car from the Roush Racing and his NEXTEL Cup car yesterday. Ryan Newman also took to the track both days in his Penske Racing South Busch Series car. Other NEXTEL Cup drivers included Travis Kvapil, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Jeremy Mayfield, and Matt Kenseth. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers were not only testing their car set-ups but also the track improvements to the race track. Road course regular, Scott Pruett, driving the #39 for Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates shared his own feelings on the changes and improvements to the track. “I think that everything they are doing here is going to make tremendous improvements from a safety standpoint and a racing quality on the Cup side,” Pruett explained. “Going down into the Inner Loop, the curves are smaller*we didn’t want to get on the curves when we raced here last year and now you can use them fairly aggressively.” Road course specialist, Terry Labonte was also on track testing the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 which he drove in northern California earlier this year. Other NASCAR Busch Series drivers included J.J. Yeley, Denny Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, and Martin Truex Jr. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 866-461-RACE or by visiting TheGlen.com.(WGI)(8-3-2005)
