Teams test 2000 Chevrolet

The car, a new version of the highly successful Monte Carlo that has won the last six NASCAR Winston Cup Series championships, was tested yesterday by drivers from 12 teams.

The test, which follows last weekend's Winston Cup 500 race at the track, included Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt.

'It [the car] will go through many changes before it races at Daytona,' said Earnhardt, who has also tested the car at Gateway International Raceway.

'We'll have a lot of test time with it on the track between now and Daytona, plus we'll probably work on some stuff to change the way we qualify.'

According to Terry Laise, GM Raceshop engineer for the NASCAR Winston Cup programme, the teams are evaluating how the new version compares with its predecessor.

'We're trying to do some on-track development of the aerodynamics of the package to make it a better racecar,' he said.

'We have to do it here because you can probably do only about 80 per cent of the development in the wind tunnel...We need to evaluate it on the track.'

Testing is scheduled to continue today.