NASCAR testing ban to continue in 2011

NASCAR officials have just held a briefing for Sprint Cup crew chiefs, just a 2011 heads-up, no big Q&A. The current pre-race testing ban next season will likely continue, with a few exceptions:

— The just-announced Daytona 500 test in mid-January, on that new asphalt;
— A pre-race test at Kentucky Speedway, which will be new to the Cup tour next summer;
— and a possible test at Phoenix International Raceway, if that track is repaved following the Feb. 27th Cup race.

Goodyear would like to do a tire test on the new Daytona surface in December, but it's unclear when that new asphalt project will be completed. Daytona officials are still shooting for a Jan. 1st finish. Team owners here say if Goodyear can't get a December test in, the tire maker will have to use some type or version of tires from its current inventory, because the volume of tires Goodyear will have to have for SpeedWeeks is enormous – 6,000 tires, each made by hand. So much of Goodyear's early-season inventory has to be in production starting this fall. Stu Grant, Goodyear's racing boss, says "We know that we've got to be ready by the 20th of January and be there (at Daytona) with a lot of tires, and hopefully our race tire. Based on our Talladega tests (that track was just repaved in 2006 ), we're going to start building tires the last week of October. Hopefully that will be our race tire. MileMulhern.net