Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Joey Logano was down to test two days including Wednesday at New Smyrna Speedway [FL]. #20-Tony Stewart arrived Wednesday morning and spent most of the day in his ride testing various setups and parts as the team prepared for Saturday night’s 400-mile race at Richmond International Speedway. “Since they paved it we can come down and run 40, 50, 60 laps, and it doesn’t seem like the sun affects it that much,” said Greg Zipadelli, Stewart’s longtime crew chief. “We just come down to put new parts on the car, run them, trying to get some driver feedback and some data. You look for a place that doesn’t change a lot with the sun and the temperature. We’ve got a good short-track tire that we race at Richmond and with that it seems like it works pretty good on the surface here. We feel like we get decent data back.” Logano, who will drive in the ARCA Series race for Billy Venturini this weekend at Rockingham, turned 130 laps on Tuesday, but turned the ride over to Stewart on Wednesday. The 17-year-old Logano has been biding his time until he turns 18 on May 24, so he can make his first of 18 NASCAR Nationwide starts this year May 31 at Dover.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(5-2-2008)
