The official start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series may be more than one month away, however four teams will be back on the track next week to take part in a two-day Goodyear tire test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. #48-Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports), #41-Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing), #2-Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) and #20-Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) are currently scheduled to participate in the test, set for Jan. 12-13 at the 1.5-mile track. All four drivers are former series champions. It will be the first on-track activity for teams since an end-of-year test held last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR re-tooled its testing platform before the start of the 2015 season, doing away with private team testing and debuting the NASCAR Series Master Unified Testing Schedule. The schedule included a mix of two-day Goodyear tire tests often followed by a single-day open team test. When necessary, NASCAR officials also scheduled additional practice time as teams worked through the ’15 rules package. The changes to the testing policy were made in part to help teams control costs.
A new base rules package, similar to that used at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway in 2015, will be in place this season for events except those held at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway. The base package includes a 3.5-inch spoiler (decreased from 6 inches), a .25-inch leading edge (previously 2 inches) on the front splitter and a 33-inch wide splitter extension panel (radiator pan) replacing the current 38-inch pan. Rear gear ratios will be adjusted to maintain 9,000 rpm maximum engine speed and a 1:38 third gear ratio will be in place for tracks under 1.25 miles. The digital dash display will also be mandatory in the series this season.
Because next week’s test is a Goodyear tire test only, the grandstands will not be open to the public.(NASCAR.com)(1-9-2016)
UPDATE: For a quartet of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, the best part of this week’s Goodyear tire test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was simply being back behind the wheel. Sprint Cup Series drivers Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth were in good spirits while speaking to a group of media during a break in testing tires at the 1.5-mile superspeedway on Wednesday. ‘I was in full offseason mode, and then after that first run yesterday, there’s no other way to get that smile,’ Johnson said. ‘It’s fun to get on the track, knock the rust off and get ready for the season. It’s a nice way to remember how cool my job is and have some fun.’ Busch was happy to be back in his hometown and enjoys testing at LVMS. ‘Most importantly, it’s the weather,’ the 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion said of the benefits of testing in Las Vegas. ‘It’s a track we race only once a year, so the notes don’t get as defined, and we always love to go to tracks we have minimal data from.’ All of the Sprint Cup Series teams will have a full day of open testing on Thursday, March 3, to kick off LVMS’ 2016 NASCAR Weekend. The big racing weekend continues on Friday, March 4, with Stratosphere Pole Day, the Boyd Gaming 300 Xfinity Series race on Saturday, March 5, and the Kobalt 400 on Sunday, March 6.(LVMS)
