Cup teams test at New Smyrna

Mike Skinner was at New Smyrna Speedway [FL] on Wednesday testing at the half-mile oval in the #84 Red Bull Racing Toyota, a car normally occupied by AJ Allmendinger. Skinner has been given the wheel for a short span of Sprint Cup races in an attempt to get the second-year race team a bit more competitive. That's it. "I'm a consultant," he said after dozens of test laps at NSS. "I'm trying to bring all my years of experience to help them find a balance in the car. I don't want AJ's job. Allmendinger was in attendance, dressed in street clothes, watching the telemetry screens, monitoring the chatter between Skinner and the crew. Skinner was running this show on pit road. "They're getting a lot of test data," said Skinner, who calls Daytona Beach home. "We're trying to give them a thicker notebook, a bigger playbook." The #84 car was joined at the session by the Red Bull test team, with Tim Fedewa behind the wheel, and the #43 Petty Enterprises Inc. Dodge, jockeyed by Bobby Labonte. Daytona Beach News Journal