NASCAR's complete plan of action ahead of 2-day test session at Phoenix Raceway

One month after the 2023 season finale, NASCAR is heading back to Phoenix Raceway, with six teams partaking in a two-day test on December 5-6 to improve the short-track racing in the Cup Series.

Days after celebrating his championship triumph in Nashville, reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney will be behind the wheel of his #12 Penske Ford. Joining him for the test are Chevy drivers Kyle Larson and Corey LaJoie, Toyota drivers Christopher Bell and Erik Jones with Chris Buescher driving the remaining Ford.

There is plenty on the agenda for the two-day short-track test beginning this Tuesday. After NASCAR ruled out an increase in horsepower, aero packages, tires, and gearbox modifications remained the area of focus to improve the racing.

Chris Popiela, senior director of aerodynamics at NASCAR, indicated that they will be testing plenty of parts over two days. He said:

"I would say we have a pretty long laundry list of items being tested,” Popiela told NASCAR.com. “It’s kind of just a collection of items that we’ve been working on throughout the year with feedback from the drivers and the industry."

He added:

"We’ve kind of categorized them into specific departments – we’ve got aero, some of the gearbox changes for handling shifting, we’re looking at design changes on our mufflers and some things that we can do to help control the heat inside the cockpit, and then we’re going to have an array of tire configurations that Goodyear is working with us on."

A major portion of the test will revolve around finding the optimum tire configurations. A significant portion of the first day is reserved to test the different configurations provided by Goodyear.

The compounds with thicker treads, which were introduced in the final two short-track races, will serve as the initial baseline package and Goodyear will be building on it with various configurations. These tests will run in parallel with the aero tests.

The main goal of the test is to eliminate dirty air and improve its performance in traffic (when a car is closely following another car). Chris Popiela is confident that the parts they will be testing will lead them in the right direction.

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Reigning NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney eager to get behind the wheel

After celebrating his championship success in the NASCAR Awards Ceremony in Nashville, Ryan Blaney is eager to return to the track where he won his 2023 title. The #12 Team Penske driver is looking forward to getting behind the wheel of his new Ford Mustang.

"We had a pretty good run though of what they’re gonna do procedure-wise when we had our meeting with NASCAR before the season ended, so I have a pretty good idea,” Blaney said in Nashville. “I don’t know if it’s changed or not, but I am ready to get back behind the wheel. I think that will be nice..."

Blaney remains hopeful that the two-day test will help improve the short-track package and improve racing during the coming season.