Sandwiched between Sunday’s 49th annual Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway on June 1, next week’s two-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at Pocono Raceway will allow teams to gather more crucial data on NASCAR’s new car.

The car — NASCAR’s now-generation race car — is in its first fulltime season. Teams used it in 16 of 36 events in 2007 and the Pocono 500 on June 8 marks the new car’s debut at that track. And with its distinct 2.5-mile, triangular layout, data mined at Pocono also aids prep work for July’s event at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Pocono, with its unique three corner configuration, should provide the teams with a lot of new information as it relates to the new car,” said NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby. “It’s yet another opportunity for the teams to work on their set-ups, collect new data and make some gains in improving performance.

“And, there are some small features of Pocono that teams can transform to getting ready for running at the Brickyard later this summer.”

Next week’s session is the series’ sixth NASCAR-sanctioned test of 2008.

“The Pocono test is very important,” said Steve Letarte, crew chief for Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), the defending champion of the Pocono 500. “It’s a very ‘travel’ sensitive track with three very unique corners.”

Tuesday’s session begins at 12:30 p.m. and ends at 7 p.m. Wednesday’s session runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with a noon-1 p.m. lunch break.

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