Kurt Busch passes Kyle Busch on the way to winning the November NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in 2009. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

After going several years without a full-fledged tire test, TMS played host to Goodyear’s crew in January 2009 and series regulars Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Travis Kvapil and David Reutimann.

“They’ve gone back to testing at each track instead of going to one 1.5-mile and calling it good for every 1.5-mile,” Gossage said. “You’ve got to have a Texas tire, an Atlanta tire. Or, it may be the same one they run at California, but one they’re comfortable with.

“While the (four) cars are similar aerodynamically, different engines put different demands on the tires. If my facts are correct, one engine may have a little less torque characteristic, so it would not pull you off a corner as fast as another one might. As a result you can probably run it a little deeper into the next corner and you can see how that puts different stress on one make to another. If I run a little deeper, it may scrub more of the tire off on entry. But on exit, it doesn’t have torque so it doesn’t scrub off as much. Each car has a nuance of its own.”

From a promotional standpoint, Gossage said the sale of season tickets indicates that fans watching Cup races at TMS are warming to the COT. The 2009 NASCAR season here featured solid story lines, as Gordon’s first victory at TMS also ended a career-worst 47-race winless streak. The spring race saw 28 lead changes among 14 drivers – one short of the Cup track record set in 2000. Gordon led six times for a race-high 105 of 334 laps.

The fall race produced instant drama when Johnson was involved in a pin-balling crash with Sam Hornish Jr. down the backstretch, eventually allowing Hendrick teammate Mark Martin to pull to within 73 points with two races remaining.

While Johnson and his crew scrambled to finish a season-worst 38th, the focus turned to The Brothers Busch. Kyle Busch won the Camping World Truck and Nationwide series races on Friday and Saturday, respectively. That sent him into the Cup race with a chance to become the first NASCAR driver to sweep all three national touring events during a single weekend. So motivated, Kyle Busch led 232 laps – and was absolutely killing the race – when he ran out of fuel on Lap 331 of 334 down the backstretch. That opened the door for Kurt Busch’s first Cup win at TMS.

Those circumstances have given Gossage plenty of promotional ammunition. “We haven’t hit the deadline for renewals yet…and we’re over 80 percent renewed,” said Gossage, widely acknowledged as one of the premier innovators in motorsports. “We had 70-something percent renewals last year. So fans are definitely coming back. And what I mean by that is the fans that were here are liking what they’re seeing, and they’re coming back.”

Along those lines, the four drivers testing here will participate in a half-hour Q&A session Tuesday evening during an invitation-only “Gear Up For the Green Flag” fan event at The Speedway Club’s ballroom. Approximately 300 to 500 fans are expected.

The April race weekend will feature NASCAR’s Cup and Nationwide series and the return of the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards. Special promotions include a “Frontstretch 2 for $99” offer and “Backstretch Buster” seating starting at $20. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling 817-215-8500.

John Sturbin covered college sports, baseball as well as the NHL and Dallas Cowboys while working at the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. He was their fulltime motorsports beat writer from 1995 to 2008.

John can be reached at jsturbin@racintoday.com