After testing last week on the high banks of the series' largest track – Talladega Superspeedway – the 2013 Sprint Cup Series cars on Tuesday began the first of a two-day Goodyear tire test at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Juan Montoya tested Goodyear Eagles on the next-generation cars that debut next season.
"Moving into 2013 we've worked hand in hand with Goodyear and their engineers to get a plan together to build tires specifically for this new racecar and optimize the grip," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vp of competition. "We have built this car with the mind-set that we are going after more of a mechanical grip and reduce some of the aero dependencies of the car for 2013. ... This test at Texas is actually our very first test with multiple cars with the new aero package."
Biffle, Busch, Menard and Montoya will test the new models again Wednesday at Texas, with future tests at Phoenix and Charlotte on Oct. 23-24 and Nov. 6-7, respectively.
"I think it's definitely headed in the right direction, 100 percent," Biffle said. "They've taken weight out of the car, which I think was definitely the right move. Basically what we're working on is getting more mechanical grip and having the car not be so aero dependent."
The new cars are also designed to more closely mirror their production counterparts in appearance.
"It's going to look really, really cool," Montoya said. "I'm excited. If you're a fan and you like a certain car, you're really going to fall in love with it watching a race. And you can really relate to it more than before."