The newly paved Daytona Speedway will be used for Sprint Car testing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. About forty teams are expected.
Last year’s 500 was marred by several long delays due to potholes that opened during the race. It is expected that the new surface will drive much differently than last year.
The sessions are intended to assist the Teams in their preparations for the Daytona 500. Each team’s car setup has to be determined almost from scratch. Previous setups at Daytona will only provide a start point.
A series of tire tests were completed there in December. Tire wear is expected to be much better, and the cars should race in tighter packs.
In addition to resurfacing, Pit Road has been widened, and the size of the pit boxes has been increased. There had been many complaints that the safety of the Daytona pits has been the worst on the Nascar schedule.
This year’s 500 is on February 20th. Jamie McMurray was the 2010 winner.
