How are teams adjusting to early-season changes? (NASCAR).

Mark Martin

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A big advantage for Martin is that his crew returns intact from last year's runner-up finish in points. Still, the team has to concern itself with the Taurus' new body style. Crew chief Ben Leslie had to hang 15 new bodies on his cars during the offseason, and that left little time to get ahead. Leslie says because of the strictness of the template tolerances, the team has had to triple-check its dimensions before going to the tracks. He says the Fords are at a disadvantage because of a loss of downforce at the front and rear of the car, which produced by the Taurus' new tail and the new body-location rule. Testing is more important now; the team must find the proper balance for the car and a way to loosen it up to suit Martin's driving style. Martin's test with teammate Jeff Burton at the end of January at Kentucky Speedway should help because two of the next four races are at similar tracks--Atlanta and Texas.

Sterling Marlin

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Marlin's team has had its hands full with the new templates and the Intrepid's new nose. Team manager Tony Glover says the new templates were not close enough to the Dodges's previous baseline, so the team had to start from scratch. The result? The team spent its time reskinning cars instead of massaging improvements into cars that already fit the templates. Marlin, though, says he hasn't noticed any differences in the cars. He and the team will get a lot of help from the testing data gathered by new teammates Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears, who, as rookies, are allowed seven tests, compared with a veteran's five. Marlin has noticed a new cohesiveness within the pit crew, which brought in a new tire carrier, tire changer and jackman. Marlin says the team will pick up where it left off when he was injured last season and believes that the effort will be better.

Jimmie Johnson