SCHRADER WOULD LIKE TO SEE TESTING ELIMINATED

 

Ken Schrader, driver of the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Fusion and his crew chief David Hyder answer fans questions about testing at Richmond and testing in general.

 

KEN SCHRADER:  How did the test at Richmond go?  “It went real good.  We were fifth fastest.

 

How does Richmond compare in difficulty to other race tracks?  “Every race track has its hard parts and easy parts.  There are some that are easier to driver than others.  Talladega – there you just have to worry about being in a wreck.  But, essentially you just go down the straightaway and turn left.” 

 

Testing now – everyone going the same place – easier or more difficult, advantages, disadvantages?  “It makes it better because you are comparing to everyone else because everyone else is there at the same time – the same weather conditions.  NASCAR has done a good job of cutting testing back..  They just need to do it more.  Testing serves no useful purpose.  It just wastes money.  If everybody goes to every race track without testing everyone would have the same advantage.  If no one tests everyone would have the same advantage.  It costs the same amount to go out of town to test as it does to races – tires, motors, motels, airplanes.  There isn’t a boatload of difference.  The sponsor gets absolutely nothing out of testing and you spend money just like you are racing.  They’ve done a wonderful job of cutting it.  It was unlimited.  They’ve done a wonderful job of cutting it.  They just need to keep going.”

 

New tracks – you have suggested building another Richmond for the proposed tracks in New York and the Northwest.  Drivers always single out Richmond as the model; why not another Rockingham or Dover?  “Well, first off – nothing concrete.  There’s no need for anyone to build another concrete track.  It doesn’t really make any difference what we suggest because the people who have the money are going to build what they want.  But, we as drivers really like Richmond.  And, we like Dover but I don’t think you will find a lot of people who are concrete fans.  Size and people isn’t a factor.  Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the crowds we have at Bristol.  You can put people around a racetrack.  We like Richmond because it is multi-groove and you can race there.

 

DAVID HYDER on Richmond test:  “When we unloaded we were pretty balanced when we got there.  We worked hard on the first day getting the balance right.  And, the second day we went off the map and tried some things that we had just been wanting to try.  We left there with a real good feeling going to Phoenix with the same car and the same set up.  We had to change some things at Phoenix, but we’re going back to Richmond with a real good feeling on where we need to be.”

 

Has the new testing policy changed the way you address a test?  “I think that now whenever you go to a track to test you have to get set up for the race where before we had the opportunity to go other places and just do a test.  A test is just different than what we are doing now – a race test.  What we are doing now if something makes you slow, you have to take it out of the car and move on.  If you go to a test like we used to you could work around the racing part and find out some things, but it is so important now when you leave a test you have to make sure you’ve got your hands on exactly what you’ve got to do when you come back what you need to do when you come back because there is very little practice time on race weekends now.” 

 

Does it make it more difficult?  “I don’t think it is more difficult.  You only have a certain amount of tests, you have to make the most of them.  And then you have to take the tracks that are similar as the one where you test and try to distribute that information towards those tracks.  So we do look at it a little bit different than you did before because you don’t get to go to all those other places.  That’s the difference.” 

 

If you had your choice how would you want the tests set up?  “I don’t have any problems with what they’ve got now.  It’s just that we get six test sessions a year and before we did a lot more testing.  I think everything is fine the way they’ve got it.  They make the rules and we have to go by them and everybody has to do the same thing, so I don’t think one team has an advantage over another team the way they’ve got it now.  I think it has saved money.  I think last year some of the bigger teams had more of an advantage because they would pick their tracks – if you had three teams working together, they would pick six different tracks apiece and then they could go to 18 different race tracks where one team could only go to six so it was an advantage to a multi-car team last year.  This year it is more on an even playing field.”