Night race brings unknowns

Although there will be floodlights all around the track, NASCAR teams still are very much in the dark going into the first Sprint Cup series night race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

After seven years of racing at the 1.5-mile track on the outskirts of suburban Chicago during the daytime, the race was moved to night this season.

But NASCAR threw its teams a curveball by not scheduling any nighttime practice sessions at the track in the two days leading up to tonight's race. And Thursday night's qualifying session was rained out, meaning the first time many drivers will see the track under the lights will be when they take the green flag.

Add in NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow, which is being used at Chicagoland for the first time after it appeared only in selected races last season, and Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson says teams are doing a "large degree" of speculating on how to properly adjust their cars to make them handle properly.

"There is a lot of guessing going on," Johnson said. "And engineers are working hard with the crew chief to dream up the optimum setup."

Teams usually keep meticulous notebooks of information on which suspension settings seem to work best in different conditions at each track. But Johnson's teammate, Jeff Gordon, said Hendrick Motorsports' book on Chicagoland won't be of much help this weekend.

"There is no comparison because we've never run here with this car before," Gordon said. "So all the notes and everything that we've learned from the past is pretty much out the window. Other than knowing where the bumps and dips are, it's all new for us."

Several Cup stars were in Friday night's Nationwide Series race, hoping a warm-up race under the lights would teach them a thing or two that they could apply to today. Among the big names racing Friday were Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle.

As for the fans, night racing could be a better show.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the track already was becoming easier to pass on with age, as cars stick better to broken-in pavement. Racing at night could make for better grip, making passing easier.

"I like it," Earnhardt said. "This track is aging and turning gray and losing grip. So at night, it will bring in some grip. But since the track has aged, you will still be able to move around on it. It will be kind of fun."

MCLAREN SETTLES LAWSUIT: The McLaren team settled its legal dispute with Ferrari on Friday, agreeing to pay the Italian team's court costs from the Formula One spying scandal.

McLaren apologized in December after Ferrari data and documents were found at its chief designer's home, resulting in a $100 million fine for McLaren and disqualification from the 2007 constructors championship.

McLaren said both sides agreed to the deal. The exact terms were not released, but Ferrari said it would donate the payment from McLaren to charity.