That confidence was maintained by the team, because on Tuesday morning GM and RCR wasted no time getting the drivers into the cars. They originally planned to split the group of sixteen drivers up over two days of running, but with rain in the forecast, the event was squeezed entirely into Tuesday. Consequently, some drivers would be running into the night.
Two of those drivers – Hunter-Reay and Braun – observed most of the day’s activities to try and learn from the other drivers’ runs. Hunter-Reay said, “It was good to watch the first five or six guys go, but then once it got to another six guys. You start over-thinking the difficulty of what you’re going to go do.”
Instead, the two passed the time socializing with some of the other drivers and comparing the different series that they came from. “They [the other drivers] all thought the Grand-Am series was very technically advanced compared to what they do,” Braun said. “They all think it’s a pretty neat series.”
Also, it appeared, Braun’s and Hunter-Reay’s fire suits were technically advanced. “We got a lot of crap for our suits having the cuffs on them on the bottom where the legs are,” Hunter-Reay said. “The NASCAR drivers have like pants.”
Eventually, GM worked through to the 13th driver, and Braun was ushered into the car for his run under the lights. Unlike a Grand-Am car, the Busch car has no headlights, so Braun would be aided only by the lights stationed around the .455-mile Caraway Speedway.
Each driver got one 20-minute session to adjust to the car and track, speak to any of the GM and RCR experts, and make any changes to the setup. Then the drivers would begin two 20-lap evaluation runs. Braun took his time to get used to the car in the first session.
![Jeff Burton, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Brickyard 400 testing. [Pic Credit IMS Media/Ron McQueeney]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/240923.jpg)
