Most major American sports have a pre-season or something similar. Though it can be argued that NASCAR does as well (in the form of the annual exhibition Clash), it is inarguably a shell of its former self. We can discuss how Daytona Speedweeks has dwindled from a 15-day event to five days of prep leading up to the Great American Race. But for this one, I want to focus on the long-lost tradition of NASCAR Preseason Thunder.
Under current rules, testing in all forms, unless officially sanctioned by the sanctioning body (i.e., tire/NextGen car tests) all forms of testing is outlawed. That means that in order for drivers and teams to gain “seat time” outside the race weekend, they are relegated to wind tunnel testing and/or sim racing, which is hardly the same thing. So when did NASCAR start to crack down on NASCAR teams testing? What was the reasoning behind it? And what exactly was NASCAR Preseason Thunder? Let’s break it down. It’s time to revisit NASCAR Preseason Thunder.
Prior to 2008, there were no hard and fast rules against testing in NASCAR. In fact, it was often encouraged. Particularly back in the 1990s, access to a wind tunnel was limited. There were only a handful in the country, and teams would have to book time at them (by the hour) and travel out of state just to gain some data. Testing at tracks like Bowman Gray, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, and even Charlotte Motor Speedway was much more convenient. But of course, this meant that there was no cap in terms of how much a team could test, meaning that teams that tested more frequently ultimately had better results throughout the NASCAR season. This contributed to a performance gap between teams with more money and resources and teams that just didn’t have that kind of money. You can still see remnants of that gap today, though in a different light. Take RCR and RFK, for example. In recent years, these two teams have struggled compared to the success of their heydays due to their old-school way of running things.
Speaking of the old guard, it was not uncommon for some teams to have designated test drivers, particularly in the 1990s. One of the most notorious examples of this is Mike Dillon, the father of Austin and Ty Dillon. RCR driver Dale Earnhardt hated testing with a burning passion. This is because, more often than not, it involved single-car runs for 40-to-50 laps at a time while the engineers collected data. For a veteran like Earnhardt, it took relatively little skill, and not much was gained in terms of his driving ability. It was boring, by his estimation. Enter Mike Dillon, Richard Childress’ son-in-law, who would often drive Big E’s number 3 Chevy while Dale himself was rarely at the track during these sessions.
As the cost of running a NASCAR team continued to increase and the competition became increasingly stiff, testing was on the incline, leading to the inevitable ban of outside testing in 2008.
In IndyCar, the drivers and teams use the entire month of May to practice and prepare for the annual crown jewel of the Indianapolis 500. For many years, NASCAR did a similar thing. NASCAR’s version was called Daytona Speedweeks and usually took place over 15 days leading up to the Daytona 500. But, some may consider the annual winter testing at Daytona a part of Speedweeks.
NASCAR winter testing at Daytona, or NASCAR Preseason Thunder, as it was later called, took place typically during the second or third week of January, just ahead of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. For a look back at times NASCAR drivers competed in the annual 24 Hours of Daytona, check out this article:
5 Times NASCAR Drivers Competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona
Winter Daytona testing had been around since the early days of the modern era of NASCAR and even survived the aforementioned 2008 NASCAR testing ban. Usually, preseason testing was relegated to single-car runs so that teams could collect data and new faces in new places could get better acclimated with their team ahead of the season. In terms of early coverage, the now defunct SPEED Channel used to run entire specials covering the key highlights of any given testing day. In the clip of SPEED News: NASCAR Edition’s Countdown To Daytona, as seen below, John Roberts and the other SPEED hosts can be seen discussing the ins and outs of pre-season testing ahead of the 2004 Daytona 500.
As NASCAR hit its peak, coverage of winter testing started to expand. Rather than just showing the highlights, the SPEED Channel started to air all-day coverage of the testing sessions. This was complete with Larry Mac, Darrel Waltrip, and Mike Joy in the booth, like any other practice session throughout the season. Rather than being limited to single-car runs, teams started to treat these test sessions as practices for the upcoming Speedweeks. As seen in this clip from 2012, you can see some of the drivers getting racy in large packs.
NASCAR’s crackdown on testing came in two distinct waves. The first crackdown came in 2008 in reaction to the Great Recession. This new rule outright banned all NASCAR teams from testing on tracks that host NASCAR Cup Series races. The move was a controversial one at the time. NASCAR team owner Richard Childress was quoted saying this at the time:
It’s a move in the right direction. We need to try and cut as many expenses as we can and that’s a step in the right direction.
Not all drivers felt the same. Then 3-time champion Jimmie Johnson said:
It’s a mistake. I think the teams need a chance to work on their cars to improve their programs, to put on a better show
President Mike Helton stated that the move was to ultimately cut costs, saving upward towards “tens of millions” of dollars for the NASCAR Cup Series teams. This particular ban was a dip of the toe as opposed to a full plunge in as teams were still allowed to test at non-sanctioned tracks. This meant that teams could test, at the time, at tracks such as Bowman Gray or North Wilkesboro.
However, this testing ban did not affect NASCAR Preseason Thunder. Not yet. The annual January winter Daytona testing continued until 2015 when all testing was banned outright, save for Goodyear Tire Tests. Again, the reason for this ban was to “cut costs” for teams. This cost-cutting continued into the next decade as Daytona Speedweeks also started to decrease. It was stated that teams were spending too much money and crashing too many cars testing at Daytona. Here is a compilation of preseason testing crashes at Daytona.
NASCAR Preseason Thunder did make a brief return in 2022 but was a shell of its former self. It wasn’t televised or streamed, and there were no significant discussions about it at all. The reason for the return was the introduction of the NextGen Car for 2022. But since then, there have been no forms of NASCAR preseason testing.
