NASCAR may loosen testing ban

With a new Sprint Cup car coming in 2013 and an effort afoot to improve the product on the track, NASCAR is looking to add additional tests to next year's schedule. The current testing ban was announced at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2008 for the following season as part of the sanctioning body's effort at cost containment. Since then, testing has picked up as Goodyear rolls out new tire combinations for existing tracks or after tracks were repaved.

However, NASCAR is now considering lightening the ban – if it's amenable to teams. Adding five to seven test dates was one of several topics that have been broached with team "business types," according to vice president of competition Robin Pemberton.

"We told them there's a bunch of things we're looking at for next year exactly the way we look at everything at this time of the year, whether it's the testing policies and things like that," Pemberton said. "If they felt like they could talk to their principal parties – if it came up or any ideas that they would be open to or not open to – so we can prepare for 2013."

Pemberton says the testing policy is one of the "most reviewed" programs in NASCAR. It's of concern because of a desire to "help maintain a competitive balance in the garage area" without watching the teams go broke in the process. Fox Sports