In preparation for the race, NASCAR scheduled several test sessions on January 7–9 (for teams who finished in an odd-number position in the 2002 car owner points standings) and January 14–16, 2002 (for teams who finished in an even-number position in the 2002 car owner points standings). Every test session began at 9 a.m. EST, stopped at 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. EST, and concluded at 5:00 p.m. EST. On January 7, Stacy Compton was fastest in the first session with a speed of and a speed of by Jimmie Johnson paced the second session. Johnson led the third and fourth sessions on January 8 with respective speeds of and . On January 9, Johnson and Ward Burton led sessions five and six, respectively, with speeds of and respectively. The January 14 test sessions were cancelled due to rain; NASCAR officials elongated testing to January 17. On January 15 and 16, Jerry Nadeau, Michael Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield paced sessions seven, eight and nine with speeds of , and respectively. The final sessions on January 17 were paced by Waltrip and Mike Wallace with respective speeds of and .