Fox_NASCAR_Guy's Blog

The first day of testing at Daytona International Speedway wrapped up Monday afternoon.

Unlike years past, drivers had a bit more of a challenge with the introduction of the new car. The Car Of Tomorrow will now be the fulltime machine and it will race at Daytona next February. The first time the COT was raced on a Superspeedway was last season at Talladega.

“It’s going to be a lot different than Talladega,” said Jeff Gordon.  “You're not going to be able to hang out in the back all day and cruise.  Track position's going to be important.  I think that it's going to be a lot harder to pass.  I think the handling is going to be an issue.  So, you know, it's gonna be a little bit more typical Daytona.”

Most drivers seemed to feel a big difference with the new car Monday.

“This track has so much character to it, so many bumps, where you are -- with track position, how your car handles is really, really big,” said reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “It's starting to remind me of Atlanta in some ways where it's abrasive, it's rough and you really need to handle.  That's our focus down here.  If we get it right, whoever gets it right, is just gonna walk away with it.  That's the challenge right now.”

Johnson led the speeds for the single car runs in the morning session with a speed of 184.782.. He was followed by Casey Mears at 184.574. Jacques Villeneuve was third in a Toyota with a speed of 183.329, he was followed by the Toyota of A.J. Allmendinger at 183.329.

The big news items that surfaced today: Dale Earnhardt Junior paid a visit although he’s not scheduled to test until next week. He spent some time with his old DEI team but also spent a great deal of time with his new Hendrick Motorsports teammates as well.

“It’s a huge, I think, credit to his commitment, wanting to be here,” said Jimmie Johnson.  “It's painful watching other cars go around the track, especially here at this type of test session.  For him to come down, show the team how committed he is to being up front, winning races and championships, says a lot to the team, his teammates, to the team members and I think to the racing public, that he's down here, ready to go, ready to get after it.”

Mark Martin also announced his schedule for this year. He’ll race in 26 events including 24 points races and tow non-point events. The schedule pretty much mirrors last years. The remaining events will be run by Aric Almirola. Martin will enter the Daytona 500 and hope to avenge his loss by less then a second to Kevin Harvick last year.

In a testament to the lack of adjustments on the new car, the afternoon speeds mirrored those of the morning session with Jimmie Johnson leading the way, with a speed of 184.672 and Casey Mears second. Kyle Busch ked the Toyota contingent with a fourth best speed of 184.064. AJ Allmendinger and Jacques Villeneuve swapped positions. Allmendinger was faster than Villeneuve in the afternoon session.

Noon update:

Although he's not scheduled to be here until next week, Dale Earnhardt Junior is here at Daytona. the newly signed Hendrick Motorsports is just here 'hanging out' according to him...I took a whole bunch of pictures and those will be up soon! Due in during the lunch hour is Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle. I'll have a wrap up of that later today.

No on track incidents, although MWR's David Reuitmann did bring out a brief caution when he stalled his car in turn three and couldn't get it re-fired...

CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY: Testing Day 1

HEY! These Speeds are from Jayski at Jayski.com...I messed up and forgot the credit! Sorry about that Jay!

THE SPEEDS - Day 1 - Jan. 7, 2008

 

Preseason Thunder Practice Jan-7 (AM) rank car# driver manu time
(secs) speed
(mph) 1 48A Jimmy Johnson Chevy 48.706 184.782 2 5B Casey Mears Chevy 48.761 184.574 3 5A Casey Mears Chevy 49.027 183.572 4 27B Jacques Villeneuve Toyota 49.092 183.329 5 84B A.J. Allmendinger Toyota 49.101 183.296 6 84A A.J. Allmendinger Toyota 49.167 183.050 7 24A Jeff Gordon Chevy 49.169 183.042 8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 49.199 182.931 9 18B Kyle Busch Toyota 49.200 182.927 10 96A J.J. Yeley Toyota 49.260 182.704 11 00A David Reutimann Toyota 49.319 182.485 12 96B J.J. Yeley Toyota 49.340 182.408 13 42A Juan Pablo Montoya Dodge 49.400 182.186 14 28A Travis Kvapil Ford 49.404 182.171 15 27A Jacques Villeneuve Toyota 49.418 182.120 16 78A Joe Nemechek Chevy 49.432 182.068 17 16B Greg Biffle Ford 49.453 181.991 18 00B David Reutimann Toyota 49.481 181.888 19 16A Greg Biffle Ford 49.502 181.811 20 2B Kurt Busch Dodge 49.519 181.748 21 17A Matt Kenseth Ford 49.541 181.668 22 19A Elliott Sadler Dodge 49.553 181.624 23 99A Carl Edwards Ford 49.555 181.616 24 42B Juan Pablo Montoya Dodge 49.558 181.605 25 41A Reed Sorenson Dodge 49.575 181.543 26 45A Kyle Petty Dodge 49.593 181.477 27 07A Clint Bowyer Chevy 49.596 181.466 28 98A Jason Keller Dodge 49.607 181.426 29 99B Carl Edwards Ford 49.632 181.335 30 41B Reed Sorenson Dodge 49.636 181.320 31 17B Matt Kenseth Ford 49.660 181.232 32 1A Aric Almirola Chevy 49.734 180.963 33 7A Robby Gordon Ford 49.748 180.912 34 33 Kirk Shelmerdine Chevy 49.821 180.647 35 7B Robby Gordon Ford 49.880 180.433 36 2A Kurt Busch Dodge 49.884 180.419 37 8A Mark Martin Chevy 49.906 180.339 38 1B Aric Almirola Chevy 49.993 180.025 39 07B Clint Bowyer Chevy 49.997 180.011 40 70A Jeremy Mayfield Chevy 50.064 179.770 41 8B Mark Martin Chevy 50.171 179.386 42 70B Jeremy Mayfield Chevy 50.405 178.554
(NASCAR Media)

 

And so it begins…

The 2008 NASCAR season officially begins around 9 AM this morning in Central Florida’s own backyard, the Daytona International Speedway.

I’ve been attending and covering the event for over 20 years now and its grown each year. From a few fans in the Oldfield Grandstands to a full-blown Fan Fest, this is how the season gets underway.

Although on-track competition ceases each November with the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, race shops continue to buzz with activity.

"A lot of people think when they wave the green flag at Homestead, we all leave and go to the beach," Championship winning crew chief for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, Chad Knaus said. "That's not what happens. We've been working five and six days a week and haven't really taken that much time off. Contrary to what people think, we really have been working hard, but our guys are now looking forward to going to the race track."

While testing for the fans is a big deal, for the drivers participating, it can be well downright boring.

"Take the car out for two laps, pull in, make changes, then go sit a half hour in line (on pit road) and wait to go out again," former champion Kurt Busch said. "It's up through the gears and full throttle all the way around. The driver doesn't do much."

Busch along with several other NASCAR drivers have been at Daytona the past several days testing for the Rolex 24 hour race that will happen at Daytona later this month. One of those attending was reigning Champion Jimmie Johnson.

"The Cup test?” Johnson said Sunday. “The first two days are boring, single-car stuff, then at the end we can get some cars together and draft a little bit."

The first two days are spent on those one or two lap single car runs. Wednesday, the third and final day, is spent in packs drafting.

There are a lot of changes for NASCAR this year, from the series third name change in as many years to driver swaps and even a brand new car.

After a partial rollout last year, the bigger, boxier Car of Tomorrow will be the car at all tracks this season. Kurt Busch and his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman took a few laps during last year’s Daytona testing session with a COT, but there were no official times.

This year everyone is testing the new car, and although the cars were raced at Talladega Superspeedway last year, drivers will that while Daytona is a superspeedway, handling here is a lot more important then at Talladega, so crews will be busy over the courses of the next three days.

The COT isn’t the only storyline here though.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR's hottest team right now. Joe Gibbs Racing switches from Chevrolet to Toyota, giving the Japanese automaker a championship-caliber team after going winless in its first Cup season.

Today kicks off session one, which will include NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams in odd positions in car owner standings as of July 17, 2007.

Drivers expected here today include, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Casey Mears, Robby Gordon, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon, Jacques Villeneuve, Travis Kvapil, Scott Wimmer, Reed Sorenson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Petty, Jimmie Johnson, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, J.J. Yeley, Jason Keller and Carl Edwards.

We’ll here be covering all the action all three days with pictures, audio and video from the track.

In fact this is the first of several ‘live’ events we’ll be covering all leading up to the 50th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500 on February 17th.

Expect the first pictures and reports by noon today.

FAST FACTS:

Session I: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams in odd positions in car owner standings as of July 17, 2007

What: NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing for the 2008 Daytona 500

Where: Daytona International Speedway.
Track Layout: 2.5-mile tri-oval.

When: Monday, Jan. 7 through Wednesday, Jan. 9.
Times: 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Who: David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Casey Mears, Robby Gordon, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon, Jacques Villeneuve, Travis Kvapil, Scott Wimmer, Reed Sorenson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Petty, Jimmie Johnson, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, J.J. Yeley, Jason Keller and Carl Edwards.