Car owner Jack Roush said that his teams wont take part in NASCARs test of the car of tomorrow this week [Tues May 30th and Wed May 31st] at Lowes Motor Speedway because the car has changed. Roush said he wasnt at a meeting last week that discussed the car, which will be used in select races next season, but said his understanding is that NASCAR will shorten the car as much as six inches because of an aerodynamic imbalance between the cars front and rear. My point was that the car that weve got doesnt have the front end exactly right and it doesnt have the back end exactly right and for us to go out and try to do front splitter development and rear wing development would be a waste of time, Roush said. So, its morphing into something that I hope will do what we need for it to do, but its definitely a work in progress. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said series officials are considering shortening the car but have not decided to make the change. Were taking a look at the body of the car, Tharp said. The [rear] wing gives us some aerodynamic things we didnt know. There is a possibility that we could shorten the car on the [rear] bumper. The chassis of it is set. With the wings we found some things in the wind tunnel. Were going to take a look at it out here. Tharp said that the next test for the car is scheduled for August at Michigan International Speedway. The car is scheduled to return to the wind tunnel June 22. Five Chevrolet and three Dodge teams are expected to test this week at Lowes Motor Speedway. Ford and Toyota are not expected to have a car at the test. The Chevrolet teams will be Dale Earnhardt Inc., Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, MB2 Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. The Dodge teams scheduled to test are Evernham Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing South. Among the drivers expected to participate in at least part of the test are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers.(Roanoke Times)
NOTE: been told the test is OPEN to the public.(5-30-2006)
