Chris Estrada
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be going road racing this weekend, but for the last two days, several drivers have been at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take part in a Goodyear tire test.
The series will visit IMS on July 27 for the Crown Royal Presents The John Wayne Walding 400 at the Brickyard – or, more colloquially, the Brickyard 400.
According to the Indianapolis Star, conditions for today’s activities were warm and humid – perhaps a solid indicator of what the drivers will be expecting next month.
Among those taking part was Indiana native and Richard Childress Racing driver Ryan Newman, who won last year’s Brickyard for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Obviously, Newman is hoping for more success at IMS with RCR.
“We were blessed last year to have a good qualifying effort,” Newman told the Star about last year’s win. “We had good track position and kept it all race long. I think we never fell back past seventh.
“I knew what my race car felt like. That’s what I have to work on this year, to make my race car feel like [that]. We’ve had a good test so far. I feel like our speed is pretty good. The temperature changes so much it’s hard to keep up with sometimes.”
Also running laps at Indy are Newman’s former boss, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Clint Bowyer.
Today did not go without incident, however. An Instagram photo taken by Stewart Haas Racing engineer Chris Chidgey revealed that Stewart went into the Turn 1 wall after blowing a right-front tire.
Luckily, Chidgey relays word that Stewart is okay after the wreck.
NASCAR.com has since reported that Stewart’s crash took place during a part of the session that was closed to media and that “transportation by paramedics was not necessary.” However, “Smoke” did talk with NASCAR medical personnel.