Johnson believes testing ban could hinder catch-up efforts

Most rule changes and other big-issue decisions in NASCAR eventually seem to wind up helping the stronger teams get stronger. But the testing ban may be a little different. The ban, which takes effect in January, prohibits teams from testing at any track that hosts NASCAR touring-series races.

Jimmie Johnson, who this season secured his third consecutive Sprint Cup championship, said the change may actually hurt him as he tries to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.

He said on last week's NASCAR teleconference that his chief adversary, Carl Edwards and his No. 99 Ford crew, are better than him and his No. 48 Chevrolet team on some tracks, and the testing ban will hinder him in his efforts to catch up.

"I still feel like we're chasing [the No.] 99 on some of the tracks, so it's going to be preventing us getting better on the banked mile-and-a-half tracks," Johnson said. "I think we're good on short tracks. Superspeedway stuff has been fair, [but] we haven't been as dominant or had the fastest cars out there.

"I think some other guys are showing a little more speed, so it's going to limit us to catch up in those areas."

He said that NASCAR should find a way to let teams gather more data on race weekends. Johnson's car owner, Rick Hendrick, has suggested allowing teams to run electronic data-acquisition equipment on opening practice days before races so information on chassis setups can be gathered more efficiently.

Johnson said that if some happy medium isn't found, the competition on the track may suffer.

"I think the potential is there for it to separate the field and have the big teams get further away from the smaller teams, because no one has a chance to work on their cars," he said.