Despite an invitation from track President and General Manager H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, NASCAR has no plans to add a test session at Lowe’s Motors Speedway next month.
Jamie McMurray drives during Sprint Cup testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 29, 2008. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images Photo)
Despite an invitation from track President and General Manager H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, NASCAR has no plans to add a test session at Lowe’s Motors Speedway next month.
Wheeler, regarded as one of the shrewdest promoters in NASCAR history, issued a plea Wednesday for NASCAR to test at the 1.5-mile track prior to the May 17 Sprint Cup All-Star race and May 25 Coca-Cola 600 at LMS next month.
“It's our intention to have the best racing possible here during the month of May and I have always believed that preparation is the key to great racing,” Wheeler said. “You can compute, work the post machine and microscope the car until your tools bleed, but nothing, absolutely nothing,is as valuable as track time.”
As a result, Wheeler is lobbying NASCAR for test time at LMS next month. “We have offered NASCAR at least two days, May 5-6, to bring the teams in so they can test the new car,” Wheeler said. “We'll have the track open from 9 a.m.to 10 p.m. so they can experiment with chassis set-ups during both daytime and nighttime conditions. Then, if further testing is needed, dates closer to the May 17 Sprint All-Star Race can be provided.”
Wheeler’s suggested test session would take place on Monday and Tuesday following the Saturday night race at Richmond International Raceway and prior to teams heading to nearby Darlington Raceway for another Saturday night event.
“Logistically, May 5-6 is perfect for the race teams and with a majority of them based in the area, there would be minimal expense for them to come here and test,” Wheeler said.
But NASCAR sets its test schedule annually, based on input from the teams based on where they feel they want and need to test. This year’s scheduled NASCAR tests include Daytona International Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway of Southern California and Phoenix International Raceway, all of which already have been completed.
Tests remaining on the schedule are Pocono Raceway May 27-28 and LMS, but not until Sept. 23-24. NASCAR officials at PIR on Thursday said there are no plans to revise the schedule.
SPEED will televise the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race live on May 17 and provide more than 90 hours of programming in support of the event.
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
