COT TESTING QUESTIONS at ATL, & some other observations:

• I believe this was a free and open test session. Why would a team owner not take every approved race team in his stable? I am referring to the RYR 88 car. It was clear during R&D and testing last year that RYR was late building cars in the first place and behind the curve. I don’t understand why this test would not be taken to its fullest advantage.

• Evernham Motorsports brought two cars for the upstart 10 team, yet only brought one car each for the 9 and 19 teams. Once again, I am not sure why in a free test, one would not bring as many cars as possible. update: I just saw on the Tuesday afternoon speeds that the 19 did indeed bring a second car (although it appears that the 9 only tested one)
  

• Just how many race teams does the Cat in the Hat have control over? I have lost count, and with this RYR/Roush alliance or whatever one wants to call it, that number could go over a half dozen. There is only one solution to this problem…..FRANCHISING!

• In a genius move it looks as though the Penski may opted to move the #2 car owner points to Sam Hornish, thus giving Hornish a free pass into the first five races in ’08. Busch at worse would be able to use the most recent past champion provisional. While it might be more of a risk, I still believe the EMS will take a long look at moving the 19’s owner points to the 10 in ’08.

• Those darn foreigners are trying to take over the sport. Just a few decades ago there were comments by many of the Nascar faithful, that the ‘Yankees’ were trying to take over the sport, and now with the influx of the foreign born open wheelers, the focus has been shifted to them. One common complaint is that these interlopers have not ‘paid their dues’ in the lesser series. That may or may not be the case, and only time will tell the validity of that claim. But one other sport I noticed also has an alarming number of Japanese players crossing the pond and jumping straight to the Major Leagues. BTW, baseball’s TeVee are on the upswing as well as revenue. Just sayin.

• Did you see all those Nascar Fans dress up as empty seats last Sunday? I did, but I think there are a few more reasons than the simple ‘Nascar fans are tired of getting jerked around’ theory. You will also see (while not as many) open spaces on the front stretch at TMS this coming weekend as well. But for many, their reason for not attending races live may have more to do with the high cost of travel and lodging (no, not the ticket prices). The region of the race venue and the College Football schedule for that 300 mile radius may have more to do with it. For example, this weekend at TMS, it is the opening of deer season for starters, and more importantly OU/Texas A&M, Okie Lite/TEXAS, Texas Tech/Baylor and Kansas/Nebraska and South Carolina/Arkansas are all drawing from fans that if this race was not during College Football season, would be attending the Great American Speedway.