The current regulation in NASCAR dictates that each team will only be permitted to seven drive tests on the Nextel Cup-sanctioned circuits. The mandate also orders crew chiefs to determine the date and the venues which drive tests teams will undertake. This regulation was put in place to keep small-budget teams within pace of wealthier teams. Without the restrictions, the wealthier teams will have the chance to undertake tests drives as often as they want.

But with the introduction of the new car template known as the Car of Tomorrow or CoT, certain teams have found ways to bend the rules to their advantage. “It appears that we've got teams that want to test more and teams that want to test less, and teams that test on tires that are not made by our tire supplier," Robin Pemberton, the NASCAR vice-president of competition, said in an interview. “So we're going to start looking at a lot of different things, from eventually lifting the test ban completely, or get as restrictive as we cannot let teams test anywhere at any time or land somewhere in between," he added further.

Experts agree that NASCAR might lift the ban since they are already having trouble with regulating the teams on their tests. Recently, more than 20 teams are reported to have carried out tests at the Virginia International Raceway. The said circuit is ideal for testing cars since the track is similar in some ways to the track where the next race of the current Nextel Cup Series will be held.

The speedway is not a Nextel Cup sanctioned circuit so the teams carrying out tests at the said circuit are not breaking the restriction set forth by NASCAR. The use of Goodyear tires which is the official supplier of NASCAR races is prohibited due to restrictions on the extra-curricular use of the tires. To get around this problem, teams are using tires from different car manufacturers as well as using old model Goodyear tires. Technically, during these tests, they cannot be accused of violation of the restrictions even if they use the K&N cold air intake system on their race cars.

Hendrick Motorsports which have so far won nine of the first twelve races this season is reported to have carried out numerous tests. Team officials are even quoted to have saying that they have already fielded numerous test drivers 30 times this year. Jack Roush, the founder, Chief Executive Officer and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, thinks that Hendrick Motorsports’ excessive testing is unfair.

“The teams that have been successful... they've gone to tracks outside NASCAR's control with tires that were not from Goodyear," says Roush in a recent interview. “Right now, Goodyear is sitting on millions of dollars worth of tires that are growing obsolete and hard in their warehouses. Teams have gotten around NASCAR's policy by buying other people's tires and testing at tracks that aren't on the Nextel Cup schedule."

NASCAR would still have the last say regarding this issue and the teams would have to wait for that.