No, not that kind of testing, but testing the Sprint Cup car at various 1.5 mile “cookie-cutter” tracks. Weeks before the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, track president Eddie Gossage offered open dates to NASCAR for testing at that track. NASCAR refused, and the result was–to those of us watching the race on television, at least–a snoozefest. In a press release posted at Motorsport.com, Gossage released this statement:

I have received emails and letters from our loyal fans about the quality of racing they witnessed at our event and those are the people NASCAR fans that everyone in the NASCAR community needs to be concerned about. We will continue to push NASCAR for a test session here prior to the Dickies 500 in November because we need to provide these fans with a great show. We need to win them back with the racing NASCAR and Texas Motor Speedway are known for.”

He knew, beforehand, that the Sprint Cup car in its virgin appearance at TMS would not perform well. The teams knew that it would be difficult to get a handle on the cars without any experience with the car at the track. But NASCAR apparently did not.

It seems that NASCAR has learned its lesson. Humpy Wheeler, the president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, near Charlotte, NC, offered NASCAR testing dates prior to the Sprint Cup All Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 in May. This time, NASCAR took the offer, and open testing at Charlotte will convene on Monday, May 5th, and Tuesday, May 6th, with a total of five sessions.

One reason why testing is necessary is that data from one track, is not usefull for setups at similar tracks. In reality, there is no such thing as a “cookie cutter” track, because each venue, even if it looks the same, has its own little nuances. The condition of the pavement is different,  the distances of the straightaways are different, and the arc and banking in the turns are different, as are the transitions between the straightaways and the turns.

So each track that has yet to see the new Sprint Cup car holds surprises for the teams. The purpose of testing is to try to find those surprises and have a better handle on how the car reacts to the track.

Thanks to Humpy Wheeler, and to NASCAR, we may now see better racing on the intermediate tracks for the remainder of this season.

From Motorsport.com, some wise words from Humpy Wheeler:

“I appreciate NASCAR being proactive and attempting to improve the racing on the intermediate tracks,” Wheeler said. “It’s become obvious that something needs to be done immediately to help these teams. Hopefully, the additional track time will provide them the opportunity to find some things that will help when they come back two weeks later. We want the fans to see the best racing of the season when they come to Charlotte….

“As I’ve stated before, NASCAR and these teams have done an excellent job on the safety of the new car,” Wheeler continued. “But, they need some help getting the cars to perform to where they can produce more side-by-side racing, which is really what it’s all about. Something needs to be done now and I applaud NASCAR for letting the teams test before they race here in May.”

It seems like a good idea.