With NASCAR eliminating testing for the 2009 season, many throughout the garage area offered their thoughts on the new policy. Taking spin out of the matter, we at HardcoreRaceFans.com figured the best way to let you, the fans, know exactly what drivers and team owners are saying about the decision is to let them speak for themselves.

Ray Evernham, part-owner Gillett Evernham Motorsports

"I applaud them for taking a stance and trying to make a change. It's probably going to have to have adjustments, just like every rule change. It's not going to perfect, it's not going to suit everybody. They've got to monitor it and be ready to make changes. I guess somebody had to say we're going to cut costs and we're going to do this. I didn't see people lined up at the NASCAR trailer with ideas, so I applaud Brian (France) and them for taking the first step. I'm sure that they'll adjust it as they go.

"The big teams are always going to be the big teams. What NASCAR needs to do is to control that or slow that down so that the competition doesn't get driver further apart, but there's always going to be people that have more money and are big teams. By controlling the rules and some of the things, what makes the car goes fast they can keep that competition a little bit closer.

"It's tough times right now. The economy is tough, we're just finishing our first full season with this new car, there has been a lot of changes in the sport - everybody needs to work closely to say, 'what's the number one priority?' - the number one priority should always still be competition. If we don't have good competition, we won't have people in the grandstands. Number two is obviously economics. NASCAR has to take the responsibility to enforce the rules, because racers will put themselves into extinction."

Clint Bowyer, driver No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet

"Daytona - I don't think there is anyone in the garage that enjoys testing at Daytona. I am all for it. I think we race enough we should be able to figure it out. There are enough other tracks we can go to get us close enough to get us in the ballgame. Working on the chemistry, that is something there is going to be growing pains for Shane (Wilson). But, having him at RCR, been around, knowing the system, knowing the other crew chiefs, knowing the engineers, knowing everything that goes on at RCR, that is going to compliment that. It is going to help that out and make that learning curve that much faster with each other."

"I am looking to it. I am looking forward to not testing. I mean, when you get home after a long weekend, down here at Homestead. You are ready to be done, you know. You don't want to have to test all through the off season at different race tracks and go here and there. It is an off season. You are ready to go back home. In the Midwest racing a modified in a weekly racing series for five, six, seven years ago, the off season was an off season. That meant you bought a new car, you were building it over the off season and getting it ready for April. We race enough."

"This is going to separate the men from the boy's a little bit more."

With extra time on his hands, Bowyer plans to, "Enjoy when you come home from a Sunday afternoon race or get home at one or two o'clock in the morning, knowing that you don't have to go test on Monday morning or Tuesday or Wednesday. You know you have three potential days off there."

"It's the same for everybody, that's good. That's good," Bowyer added after learning the testing policy applies to a wide variety of NASCAR sanctioned tracks (including Nashville, Iowa, etc.). "You're going to have teams that still have the funding that are probably going to outrun the rest, but for the most part it's the same for everybody. You've got to go to these tracks and get out there. That's going to force everybody to pick the pace up. I think it's going to make everybody have a bad race."

Jimmie Johnson, driver No. 48 Chevrolet

"I think it's a mistake," Johnson said of the new testing ban. "I think teams need a chance to work on their cars to improve their programs, to put on a better show. If we had this rule at the start of the year with all the development work that needed to be done with the car not only for the No. 48 team, but the whole series, I don't think we'd be here today."

"I do understand and recognize that we need to cut expenses. I feel a good compromise of the two would be to allow the teams to run data acquisition on Friday. We can get it off the cars, we can adjust the schedule and make it work and let the teams have a chance to collect data to make these cars better. It doesn't look like that's the case and now we're going to need to focus on other ways to collect data or to create simulation programs or machines to create on-track activity and then test at tracks that my not work and on tires that we wont race on and try to find a base line. It's going to slow things down and make them more expensive and limit some guys, but we still have to get on the track and work. We still have to test. We cannot sit still and we won't.

Jeff Burton, driver No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet

"I do believe that we are at a time in our sport where we've got to look at ways to cut some costs. There's no doubt about it. We've been in conversation with NASCAR about what it is they can do, more importantly we as tams ultimately have the responsibility to pay attention to what we're spending. Jack Roush is a master at that. Richard Childress is a master at that, of trying to figure out where to spend the dollars without wasting it.

"A testing ban, there's a lot of unknowns. I've never been part of a sport where testing was banned. So I'm not sure of the consequences of that. I do believe that testing is a way for a struggling team to improve, but I also believe that we're in severe times and we need to have severe actions.

"I am shocked that we won't test Daytona. I always believed even if we had a testing ban we would test at Daytona because, I don't know, it's always been what we've done. It's going to be interesting. I'm sure this sport will find a way to create excitement for the beginning of the year. I'm sure the drivers, car owners and NASCAR will find a way to get together and do something like that. I think that would be in the best interest of our fans to create some energy, to create something going on around the sport.

"For me personally, I'm a tester. I'm not going to be as bold as to say I like to test, but I respect what testing will give you and there's something about waking up at five in the morning and leaving your house to go work to try to be better, that I really enjoy. It gives me the sense of kind of a workman-like attitude. I could be playing golf, but instead I'm going to work. I tested last year for a month. If you look at the number of days that I tested last year it takes a month up. That's a lot of testing in addition to everything we do (at the track). I mean we tested a month. For me, I don't know. I agree with the policy, but at the same time I'm nervous about it because I think testing makes me better."

Rick Hendrick, owner Hendrick Motorsports

"I wanted to continue testing," Hendrick explained. "That was what we wanted to do, but we're going to do what NASCAR tells us to do. It's hard to say. I've heard numbers that could be as much as 700 or 800 thousand dollars to one million dollars a team, depending on how much you test. If you've got to have airplanes to get there, tires, it's almost like running a race when you go test. The economy is tough and NASCAR has decided to do that we'll abide to it and I think they'll see how it goes for the year. I think that's what they said. I didn't hear the press conference in here so that's what we were told this morning (Friday). We just have to wait and see how it works out for everybody. It could be a substantial savings with all the motors, tires, rooms and folks traveling around. We haven't really been able to put a pencil to it because it's just hard to try to divide up. You've got the people anyway, so how do you look at what it casts if they weren't testing"

"When (NASCAR) asked me what I said was if we're going to be there anyway on Friday, why not go in on Friday and instrument the cars and have the data acquisitions because every team in this garage has got that. You put that on the car like they did the trucks. Have two sessions on Friday, like an hour and a half, qualify on Saturday morning, have the data acquisitions off for qualifying and race. That way you've got the tires here and you should be able to figure out in two sessions of an hour, hour and a half a piece what you've got. That would give people a lot of track time. If you've got the data there then everybody in this garage has got data. If a team didn't have it, then NASCAR could furnish it for them then that puts everybody on equal ground. That's what I vote for, but they haven't told me what they're going to do, but that's what I think would work. I don't know what you do with a young guy that you've got that doesn't have any experience or verlittle experience."

Jeff Gordon, driver No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet

"In some ways I think it's great, especially with the economy and trying to do some cost-savings will definitely save the teams," the four-time champion and part-owner of the No. 48 added. "Gosh, I just don't trust the crew chiefs enough, you know?" Gordon joked. "I'm trying to figure out which tracks we'll be able to test at and whether that means we'll be testing less but traveling more. I know how these guys are.  hey want to get track time. They want to get ahead of the competition. If you get behind, you've got to catch back up. You've got to do it somehow. Usually on the track is the best way to do it, so I'm just curious to see how it all unfolds and I'm curious to see a little bit more of the details behind it."

Denny Hamlin, driver No. 11 FedEx Toyota

In his early days in NASCAR, Hamlin was able to utilize computer simulation games as a tool of development. Never even seeing the Pocono Raceway before, Hamlin was able to sweep the races there in 2006, thanks largely to the time he spent practicing on the computer.

With Friday's announcement, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver believes computer simulation may wind up playing a much larger role in the future.

"I think more next year than anytime it's going to be used. The more realistic they make these games, the better it's going to be for these teams and drivers. I think even Joe Gibbs Racing was looking into doing something with simulation if testing was cut out, so we'll see."

While NASCAR insists that drivers and team owners agree that their new ban on testing, each person in the garage area has their own opinion on the matter. Rather than clout their comments with personal opinion, again, we felt you would be best served reading what some of the sport's best had to say about the situation, and then make your own decision.

We'd love to hear what you, the Hardcore Race Fans, think about the matter. Be sure to visit our Hardcore Forum and express your opinion on the new rule and make your voice heard!