NASCAR teams test at TMS
01/09/09 Just like usual in early January, Kurt Busch was back in the cockpit of a car at a track doing testing. "It's just good to have that racetrack smell back in your nose," Busch said Thursday.
Except this was different. Busch was at Texas Motor Speedway instead of Daytona and taking part in a Goodyear tire test rather than an open test for Penske Racing.
With NASCAR's new ban on testing at all of its sanctioned tracks, including the traditional "preseason" Daytona 500 testing that usually would be taking place about now, the tire test at Texas provided a now-rare chance to run test laps on a track where Sprint Cup races will be held.
"This is a serious day. … With us being able to get out here on a track we race on with the potential tire we'll use in April, it's a vital day," Busch said. "We're ecstatic that we're here at a track testing. I felt like I was flying to Daytona this morning."
The testing ban is a cost-cutting measure designed to help teams save millions of dollars this season, when a tough economy has tightened budgets and made sponsorship money extremely difficult for teams to find.
David Reutimann, who drives the primary car for Michael Waltrip Racing, said sponsorship for his car is lined up for only half the season.
"It's definitely a tough situation," Reutimann said.