NASCAR Holds Open Test in Kentucky

On Wednesday, after two days of Goodyear tire testing, NASCAR hosted an open test day at Kentucky Speedway ahead of July’s Quaker State 400.  Representatives of Team Penske (Brad Keselowski, in place of the unavailable Joey Logano, Roush Fenway Racing (Greg Biffle), Michael Waltrip Racing (Brett Moffitt), Joe Gibbs Racing (Matt Kenseth), Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (Jamie McMurray), Hendrick Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Stewart-Haas Racing (Danica Patrick) and Wood Brothers Racing (Ryan Blaney) tested on the 1.5-mile tri-oval, dodging rain showers along the way to do so.  No official speeds were released from the test.

Earnhardt Jr. was very happy to be able to participate in the test, which he believes is crucial for the team.

“I think I can help, if I mentally plug in to what they’re doing and get real serious about the test, I need to do whatever I can to give Greg [Ives] the opportunity to make the test productive,” Earnhardt Jr. told NASCAR.com. “I need to be driving the car instead of someone else, Greg needs that good feedback and I need to be as productive as I can so I have to plug in mentally and try to give him the information he’s looking for after every run. He’s making a lot of small… changes on the car and he wants that feedback on what that’s doing. It’s a little more than just going out there and making laps and letting them figure it out with the data on the computers. He wants that personal feedback.”

Moffitt had a tough day, tagging the wall with his Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota during the morning. MWR pulled out a backup car from the transporter, allowing Moffitt to continue to participate in the afternoon session.