13 teams took part in an open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday after several teams participated in a two-day tire test at the facility on Monday and Tuesday.
The 13 teams that participated in the test included Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing), Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing), Carl Edwards (Joe Gibbs Racing), Sam Hornish Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports), Brad Keselowski (Team Penske), Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing w/Felix Sabates), Casey Mears (Germain Racing), Paul Menard (Richard Childress Racing), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing), Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) and JJ Yeley (BK Racing).
2006 Indianapolis 500 champion Hornish Jr. thought his time of 47.65 was fast, but then Harvick came on the racetrack.
“The [No.] 4 unloads and runs a 47.30,” Hornish stated. “As the day goes on and the track temperatures comes up, we start losing turn with our cars, so there’s a lot of work we need to do at RPM as far as getting the cars where they need to be.”
“I think in turns 2 and 4, we were only down to 60% throttle with no break,” Hornish continued. “It’s not quite an IndyCar yet, but for a 3,500-pound stock car, it’s pretty much on the edge as far what it feels like and how much the cars move around and the ability you’re going to have to be able to catch the car if it does step out underneath you.”
Five-time Brickyard 400 champion Gordon ran a time of 47.60, just an eyelash underneath Hornish’s No. 9 Ford.
It was the first time Sprint Cup Series teams ran at the historic speedway with the new 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rule package.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Edwards also commented on the test.
“This track is unlike any other track we go to, but it is so smooth and so fast it gives you an opportunity to really test pretty well,” Edwards told reporters. “The temperatures today, the slight overcast, they’re kind of keeping things constant throughout our test.”
“There’s a lot of on-throttle time, we’re very fast through the middle of the corner,” Edwards said, describing coming off the corners early in the day at 190 mph before temperatures heated up.
The 2015 Brickyard 400 will be run on Sunday, Jul. 26.
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