AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The first open test of the 2017 season took on a bit more urgency as crew chiefs and drivers begin to digest the new points format NASCAR announced last week.
There's no more lack of concern if a driver gets a slow start. With seven "playoff points" (one for each stage win, five for the race win) up for grabs each weekend as well as points toward the regular-season standings that could secure additional playoff points (up to 15 for the regular-season champion), drivers and teams know performance from Day 1 matters in 2017.
Playoff points earned throughout the season get carried over into every round of the playoffs with the exception of the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In previous years the three bonus points earned for a regular-season win carried into the first playoff round but not additional rounds.
The format was in the back of the minds of the 13 teams that participated Tuesday and Wednesday in the open test at Phoenix Raceway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest among all of the drivers with a lap of 135.6 mph, but with no tech and different agendas, being atop the chart wasn't as important as learning about the cars and being ready for Phoenix and similar flat tracks.
"If you look at last year, ... we didn't get our win until we got to Michigan [in June] but it really wasn't a nightmare," said Joey Logano crew chief Todd Gordon. "Now you've got the opportunity, you've got to pad your bonus points piece for the Chase. That's something that carries you through all three rounds.
"That significance of that third round with Talladega in it and the outlier that can be -- you have an opportunity during the regular season to really reduce your stress."
For Toyota rookies Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez, the test should have been a time to just get acclimated to their new full-time rides. Joe Gibbs Racing (Suarez) and Furniture Row Racing (Jones) opted to have their new drivers get the seat time rather than have an experienced driver give feedback on the new Camry body.
Jones has three races of Cup experience -- in 2015 as a substitute for Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth -- and Suarez has none. Toyota certainly could have used a driver with more experience at the test, but Kenseth did do a tire test at Las Vegas a few weeks ago.
"My experience in a Cup car was totally different than what they drive like now -- I don't have a lot of [Cup] experience to lean on," Jones said. "I wouldn't say they are looking too much for feedback on the body from us [because] they do so much in the wind tunnel now in so much of their simulations, they can really learn what they need to know through that rather than through driver feedback.
"I'm trying to help with the handling aspects of the car in breaking down some of the data they get off the car and interpreting it a little better."
For a driver such as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 21st in the standings last year, the urgency was just to get better.
"You've got to be good every weekend," Stenhouse said. "We're just trying to improve from where we have been the last couple of years. There is a lot of room for improvement.
"It was nice to have some really good cars here so we could kind of gauge off of them."
The test marked the first organization test with the 2017 aerodynamic package with a smaller spoiler and smaller surface area of the front splitter. The package is similar to the one used for the Michigan and Kentucky races last year.
"Not really [much change], more brake, less grip -- everything you would expect," said Logano, who won the November race at Phoenix. "I got behind some cars and it didn't seem to affect me a whole bunch, which is nice. It did some, but not a lot. ... It should be a little bit easier [to pass]. It's going to be hard still, but it should be better."
Stenhouse said the new package was "definitely looser," probably more on the exit of the corner. Because of the new points format, it could make shorter runs more important than long runs.
"We did quite a few long runs these past two days and felt really good about that," Stenhouse said. "Those [other] guys are really good on the short runs. We're looking for that speed on new tires, short runs, especially with the format and the segments."
The next NASCAR organizational test won't be until May 30-31 in New Hampshire. Goodyear tests between now and then will be April 4-5 in Michigan, April 25-26 at Indianapolis and May 9-10 at Kentucky.
That doesn't seem like many open tests, especially in a year where NASCAR teams are expecting less practice time on race weekends. NASCAR has tentatively cut practice time by 30-45 percent on some race weekends, including one practice instead of two on Saturdays of three-day weekends.
"The guy that unloads the truck the fastest is going to win the race; you don't have time to rebuild the car at the race track and make big changes," said Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers. "Only having that one 50-minute [practice] on Saturday, if you don't start that practice fast, you're not going to be any good in the race."
Childers said the car didn't handle all that different as the team made its switch from Chevrolet to Ford.
"It went better than what I thought it would go," Childers said. "There's so much to it more than what everybody thinks. It's about to get our new sim to work, getting our timing and scoring to work, getting our database to work, figuring out what oil level we have to run, what level we have to run the water at."