Whether it’s his version of Chase for the Nextel Cup gamesmanship or genuine outrage, Greg Biffle believes Hendrick Motorsports violated at least the spirit of NASCAR testing rules by having Jimmie Johnson in a #25 car in Phoenix. “Johnson was driving the 25 car,” Biffle said. “Does he race the 25 car? Why was he driving the 25 car?” Brian Vickers drives the #25 Chevrolets for the Hendrick team. Johnson drives the #48 Chevys. “Vickers wasn’t even there,” Biffle said. “And this isn’t the first time. Everybody knows that they do it. … I watched Chad Knaus (Johnson’s crew chief) on TV brag about they saved all their tests for the Chase. It’s not his test.” NASCAR limits the number of one- and two-day tests each Cup team can do at tracks on the schedule. Many teams with championship aspirations save their sessions for late in the year so they can go to tracks in the Chase and prepare for races in the 10-race “playoff” to determine the title. “I was there filling in for the #25 team,” Johnson said. “You can go back and look at other examples of driving filling in for teams. The #20 car (Stewart’s) was there with a #80 on the side of it, with the 20 hauler, 20 team and 20 everything. But Denny Hamlin was driving it. “We go to NASCAR, we ask what we can do. We ask how we can help our teammates out and fill in. They tell us if it’s right or wrong. So we’re doing all that we can and we went down there and tested.”(ThatsRacin.com)(11-6-2005)
