Jeff Burton understands why NASCAR adopted a testing ban. He also knows that ban cost him dearly last weekend in California. Burton finished 32nd in the Auto Club 500.
"Our No. 31 car was the worst RCR [Richard Childress Racing] car there, and maybe the worst car at the track," said Burton, who finished 31st. "The best [RCR car] was Kevin Harvick, who might have finished eighth to 12th."
Harvick crashed and finished 38th, ending an 81-race streak without a DNF. Clint Bowyer was 19th and Casey Mears was 24th at Auto Club Speedway in the other two RCR cars.
Burton said the testing ban was the reason the team underperformed at Fontana. He hopes the problem doesn't continue this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"We are testing things at the racetrack, and that is out of character for the 31," Burton said. "We were struggling in practice [at ACS] and had a 20th-place car. We made a bunch of changes and quickly became a 40th-place car."
Would the 31 Chevy have performed better if the team tested at Fontana, as was done in past years?
"God, I hope so," Burton said. "If we had tested at California and saw this package didn't work, we would have gone there with different stuff. Whether that would have produced better results, I don't know, but I certainly hope so."
Bowyer said in one way it's a good thing all the RCR cars struggled last weekend.
"It forced all our people to work together and re-evaluate the thought process to fix the problem," Bowyer said. "Our guys now have changed the cars over to the old way of thinking last year. The latest and greatest hits didn't work for us."
Bowyer's No. 33 Chevy is a new team for RCR, which Bowyer said creates a "sense of urgency" to correct the problem after last weekend's woes.
No testing makes it tougher.
Burton isn't criticizing the testing ban, knowing it was done to cut costs in tough economic times. But there are some unwanted consequences.
"In desperate times, you do desperate things," he said. "I get it, but I am a fan of testing. From Day 1, I've said it causes one big problem: If you're behind, how do you catch up? The truth is, some teams will figure it out and some won't. We have to figure it out."
The way to figure it out is through complex engineering techniques and expensive equipment like seven-post shaker rigs, computer simulators and wind-tunnel tests.
"Even with all that data acquisition, we still have a lot to learn," Burton said. "Shaker rigs, wind tunnels, bump stops and chassis flex will not always give you the right answer. You still have to feel your way through it.
"But when things are not going well, you have to address it right now. You can't sit and wait and hope it gets better."
Terry Blount
