NASCAR may give teams some help on testing and springs

At NASCAR's crew chiefs meeting here Saturday morning, Sprint Cup teams were given a few tweaks on the car-of-tomorrow and on testing for 2010, but it's unclear if more might be coming.

NASCAR officials are apparently leaning toward okaying Greenville-Pickens Speedway for Cup testing next season, to give teams a less expensive testing venue – a track closer to their Mooresville, N.C., shops. But some teams say they would continue flying/driving down to places like New Smyrna in Florida for testing anyway.

NASCAR banned testing this season at NASCAR tour tracks, ostensibly as a cost-cutting move. However the more well-funded teams have continued testing, flying around the country to whichever tracks they can find that are similar to Cup tracks. Less well-funded teams, however, are essentially left out in the cold.

One championship crew said if NASCAR really wanted to open up a good testing venue, it could let them all test at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is only a few miles away from most team shops.

Marcus Smith, who runs the Charlotte track for his father's Speedway Motorsports, has said teams are welcomed to use the speedway any time for testing, if NASCAR would give the okay.

NASCAR is also considering letting teams use some different rear springs at Daytona and Talladega, which could either improve handling or speed, depending. More at MikeMulhern.net