Competition and preparation crossed paths this past Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, as NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams shuffled their back-up cars out of the crossover gate and sent them on their way to Richmond, Va.

The parade was necessitated by this week’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup test at Richmond International Raceway. Many teams plan to use what was their Martinsville backup car as one of the two they’ll test at Richmond.

“It was interesting to see so many teams take out their back-up cars after Happy Hour (at Martinsville) to get ready for the Richmond test,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet). “We’re ahead of the game. We’ve got two cars ready to go and it shows how hard everyone has worked at DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) to get the new cars built.”

This week’s test — the fourth of seven NASCAR-scheduled series tests in 2007 — begins Tuesday and ends Wednesday. It’s the first series-wide Car of Tomorrow test at Richmond. The culmination of a seven-year project by NASCAR’s Research & Development Center, the Car of Tomorrow underwent its first on-track test at Richmond, in the summer of 2004.

The track’s May 5 event (Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400) will be the first Richmond event for the Car of Tomorrow and the fourth overall. Teams will use the Car of Tomorrow in 16 of 36 series events in 2007. Earnhardt — a three-time Richmond winner and defending champion of the May event — is looking forward to it.

“Richmond is one of those places where we seem to always be fast — from the Busch series days to the cup series,” Earnhardt said. “So let’s see if that confidence and momentum carries over. If we have a good test, look out.”

Fifty series teams are schedule to attend this week’s test. Both sessions run from 1-9 p.m., weather permitting. Each includes a dinner break from 5-6 p.m. Media will have interview opportunities prior to each day’s session and during the dinner break.