Edwards In Favor of Testing Ban Contract

As this oh-so-creative writer from the St. Petersburg Times put it, Carl Edwards is "bringing out his inner-Allen Iverson" with talk of a self-imposed testing ban and a limit for practice on Sprint Cup race weekends.

[Edwards] said a contract is circulating among teams that would impose a self-ban on testing. The deal would go beyond NASCAR's one-year moratorium at venues that host races in the top three series.

"I've seen a contract that was written that (owner Jack Roush) said he's willing to sign, I'm willing to sign, that says if everyone will agree to this, then we won't test at all," Edwards said. "I think that's fine. That's great."

Edwards' approval of this total test ban isn't exactly walking far out on a limb because, come on, who's going to disagree with the guy who is writing your paychecks?

I do find it interesting, though, that Edwards said later in the article that NASCAR could be well-served with an elimination of Friday and potentially Saturday practice during a race weekend. In his mind, it would save significantly on team costs associated with staying at a track for another day.

The cost savings would be good for the teams, but it certainly wouldn't be beneficial to a race track that is open for NASCAR events between three and six days per year -- as Edwards acknowledged -- nor would it be good for competition. A lack of practice and testing would be the easiest way for a team who is has been consistently good to stay consistently better than the rest because the teams that falter wouldn't have near the amount of chances to catch back up.

In other words, it makes a lot of sense for the guy who finished the year on the hottest note in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series to advocate for less practice, doesn't it?

Limiting practice is definitely the wrong way to go, and as I see it, NASCAR should instead give teams the chance to put all of the data-gathering equipment they have for testing purposes on their rides for all practice that comes before qualifying in at each race weekend in 2009.

The teams already own the equipment anyways and its the easiest way for a race engineer to get a gauge on the shock travels, ride heights and other statistics I can't even begin to explain that are measured on a stock car to help with the setup.

(tip of the hat to Jayski for the link)