When NASCAR testing and Mother Nature went head-to-head at Homestead-Miami Speedway on August 26, it looked like testing would finish second on the day. Yet, all 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup teams who attended were able to complete their testing under the lights late Wednesday in preparation for the 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 on November 22.
The initial start time of 9:00 a.m. for the NASCAR Open Test was pushed back two hours due to perpetual rain. After the track had been dried, teams were able to acquire over two hours of valuable data capture and analysis as conditions allowed; however, this would not be the case for the majority of the day. The early afternoon brought back heavy rain with severe lightning and thunder further halting progress in testing and placing the rest of the session in doubt. The rain eventually subsided in the early evening and teams were able to complete testing without needing to come back the following day.
Driver quotes:
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 Chevrolet SS for Furniture Row Racing-“This is going to be, obviously, a huge race. It’s the biggest race of the year if you really think about what it all comes down to so we’re planning on making that final four with our Furniture Row Chevrolet and hopefully if we get to do that we’ll be ready,” “We’re just trying to learn all we can to get down here and be prepared for that, and hopefully we’ll be one of those guys.”
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford Fusion for Penske Racing- “We learn a lot of things. A lot of things we can’t typically learn on a normal race weekend. We can put data on our race cars and be able to really dissect what each part and piece does,” “So overall, it’s key for us to get the most out of this as we don’t have them (testing) very often. And, obviously, coming down here to Homestead – it can be the most important race of the year.”
Drivers who attended the testing session:
Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Fusion, Penske Racing
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet SS, Hendrick Motorsports
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet SS, Hendrick Motorsports
Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet SS, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet SS, Stewart-Haas Racing
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Chevrolet SS, Furniture Row Racing
Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford Fusion, Roush Fenway Racing
Ty Dillon, No. 31 Chevrolet SS, Richard Childress Racing
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
