The 2007 NASCAR season has yet to begin, but the preparations for the impending year of competition are well underway and thriving. The second test of the season took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway January 29 and 30, where the #44 UPS Race Team was one of more than 50 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series teams to participate. Although it was the second test of the season it is the one many teams consider to be the most important.
For a brand new organization like Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), the Las Vegas test was definitely an important outing as the team prepares for its first year of Nextel Cup Series competition. While the organization didn't blister the speed charts, it did determine a direction as the team continues preparing for the events that follow the two weeks of Daytona.
"I think the test went well as far as letting us see where we are and determining a path," said Dale Jarrett, driver of the #44 UPS Toyota Camry. "We learned a lot from that test and have already been taking the cars we had there and testing them just to confirm what we saw."
Jarrett said the most important thing the team learned is the approach it needs to take as it prepares for the events that take place on intermediate tracks such as Las Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte and Texas.
"We have a direction we believe we need to go," Jarrett explained. "We're going to take what we learned at Las Vegas and apply the things we believe that are going to make us better when we go back there. Hopefully we'll see improvements that will allow us to build for the other tracks we'll visit like Las Vegas."
While the progress of the teams competing in Toyotas generated a great deal of news, so too did the newly renovated Las Vegas Motor Speedway. During the off season track personnel completely renovated the infield and racing surface, making the track more like its sister tracks of Charlotte and Texas complete with banking and a dog leg. The result was an extremely fast racing surface, causing many to express concern over the excessive speeds and tire durability as speeds soared close to 190 mph.
The faster Las Vegas Motor Speedway also conjured up the debate about whether speed translates into better racing. While most argue it doesn't, Jarrett said more speed is the inevitable result of a new racing surface with the banking that now exists at the 1.5-mile track in the desert. "I just think that technology is to a point where your hands are tied," Jarrett said. "The only way to make the speed slower is to make the track smaller. You can make the banks slower, but that doesn't provide good racing for our cars. Our cars are heavy and they need to be racing on banked turns, but when you have a track that's a mile and a half long and you put banked turns at the end, it's going to be fast. There's no way around it. That's a difference between racing on a flat track we had here before and the banks we have now." Whether changes will be made to the tire compound that will be raced by teams when they return to Las Vegas remains to be seen. For MWR however, the test allowed their three teams to learn more about their cars and where they stand in regards to the down force program for the 2007 NASCAR season. "We knew going in it was going to be a process," Jarrett said. "But this organization is equipped to try different options and has the ability to adjust to what works and allows us to be successful. I think that by the end of the day we'll be pleased with what we see."
