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6:00

NASCAR Preseason Thunder Day 3: First Round Of Daytona 500 Testing Wraps Up

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., -- The first wave of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing wrapped up on Wednesday with Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, on top both the morning and afternoon sessions.

In the morning session of the three-day test, Busch posted a lap of 187.786 mph and in the afternoon session turned a lap of 188.830 mph.

The fast test session was the perfect way that Busch wanted to start his tenure with his new team at Joe Gibbs Racing, which switched from Chevrolet to Toyota in the off-season.

“We knew that the switch was going to be good and the reason we went to Toyota was for the purse fact that they want to go out there and compete and win races and win championships,” said Busch, who joins Joe Gibbs Racing from Hendrick Motorsports. “So that’s what we’re here to do with them.

“The biggest thing was it was nice to see the Red Bull stuff up there, Bill Davis’ stuff going fast. I’m not necessarily sure if it’s a lot to do with their engines or just the way that the Camry’s front end is shaped or what exactly it is. For what we’ve got going on with our program and the Gibbs stuff, we’re proud of the way we came out of the box strong.”

Teams were able to draft in both the morning session and the afternoon session as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prepare for the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17.

A second wave of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will begin their three-day test next Monday and among the drivers that will participate in the test will be Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.

Hometown win: Daytona International Speedway is the home track for Alan Gustafson, who hails from nearby Ormond Beach and serves as the crew chief for Casey Mears and the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

The new season brings a new driver for Gustafson as Mears moves from the No. 25 to the No. 5 car replacing Kyle Busch, who left Hendrick Motorsports for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Winning at his home track of Daytona International Speedway would be special enough for Gustafson, but to capture the 50th running of the Daytona 500 only adds fuel to the fire.

“Growing up here as a kid, coming to a lot of the races here, it's definitely a special place,” Gustafson said. “A lot of friends and family that are close by.  It's the biggest race in our sport.  It's a very, very tough race to do well at and to win.  It's something that when you start out in your career, you always dream of doing, and something that I'd love to do for our team and Casey and Mr. Hendrick.

“We put a lot of emphasis on it.  This is the kind of the place where all the teams, everybody tests here, you bring the best of the best.  You work on the wind tunnel, your motors, your cars, how they drive.  It would be real nice to win it for that reason, too, because you know everybody's bringing their best stuff.”

Quotable: Elliott Sadler on the 50th running of the Daytona 500: “It’s pretty hard to put into words what it would mean to win any Daytona 500 but to win the 50th, it’s a special race. I came to my first Daytona 500 in 1977 and came to one in 1979 and wanted to know why the people were fighting in the infield. That was pretty cool. I got to stand on the track and then came back years later as a pit crew for my brother’s car. I’ve been a big fan of the sport. I understand its history and where we’ve come from and where we’re going. To be able to race in my 10th Daytona 500 coming up here in a month is a dream come true for me. From a kid from a very small town in Emporia, Va. to be able to come and be on this kind of stage and race for these kinds of stakes and try to win at Daytona for the 50th running is pretty special. It’s hard to put in words.”

 

3:30

Casey Mears has been ‘enjoying’ an exciting test session. Tuesday Mears blew a tire on the No. 5B. He spun but didn’t hit anything.

Wednesday, midway through the afternoon session, the no. 5B of Mears blew an engine entering Turn 1. Mears was able to coast back to the pits.

“We’ve got the speed,” Mears said. “So I’m not too worried about it.”

Teammate Jeff Gordon looked under the car at the motor kidded with Mears that he sure knew how to blow a motor.

While the crew set about loading the car onto hauler for the trip back to Charlotte, Mears seemed satisfied with the test overall and wasn’t worried about missing the last few hours of practice.

“Things have gone really well,” Mears added. “We really got to practice a lot. And we’ll be able to share information with the No. 88 next week.”

The final car of the Hendrick stable, the No. 88 driven by Dale Earnhardt Junior will be part of the three-day test next week.

While a few cars still toured the track, many of the teams were starting to pack up by 3:15 PM Wednesday afternoon. It’s a tradition during Daytona test sessions that on third day most everyone packs up and leaves early. NASCAR has thrown this group a curve ball however, telling the teams that no hauler can leave until 5PM.

Best advice would be not to be anywhere near the entrance to I-95 northbound from Daytona Beach around 5:30 this evening.

12:30:

Wednesday mornings drafting sessions went off without a hitch.

The cars got started on time after having to wait nearly an hour Tuesday morning.

NASCAR allowed teams to draft Tuesday afternoon and drivers seemed to tip toe, only running in packs of three to four.

Wednesday morning was a different story.

Teams ran in packs of seven to eight and seemed to let it all hang out. Several times cars were three wide in the corners and everyone seemed comfortable with their setups.

The Toyotas continue to surprise. Having been near the top of the charts all week, Kyle Busch led the way in his new Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the morning session with a speed of 178.786.

The first sessions were led by Jimmie Johnson; but those were single car runs. In Wednesday afternoon’s drafting session, JJ Yeley in a Toyota topped the charts. And Wednesday morning it was Busch’s turn.

“Jimmie Johnson was the fastest one for the past two days,” Busch said. “But yesterday we got within a half of a tenth of second.”

AJ Allmendinger also in a Toyota was second on the morning charts, Greg Biffle in a Ford was third, Kurt Busch was fourth in a Dodge and Jimmie Johnson was fifth in a Chevy.

There were no on track incidents in the morning session. This group of drivers have one more session, this afternoons, before the three day test wraps up. I’m depending on web producers back at FOX 35 to get the photo galleries up. Due to the I4 crash they are behind on getting the morning photos up. Sorry for the delay and I hope you’ll understand.

NOTE:

Day 3 Morning Testing Speeds

It’s almost as if the horses were let out of the barn Tuesday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

The second day of preseason testing saw teams finally getting an opportunity to test their new cars in drafting packs.

The day started with NASCAR's annual safety meeting for drivers and crew chiefs. Attendance is mandatory for the gatherings, which continue this month with a second Sprint Cup test and sessions for the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series. Seats and helmets were the main topics.

The afternoon drafting sessions started out with packs of no more than three, as it seemed drivers were a bit apprehensive. Once they became comfortable with the new cars later in the day the packs grew to 6 and 7.

Jimmie Johnson was the fastest once again in single-car testing runs on Tuesday. Johnson turned a fast lap of 184.763 mph in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet followed by Jacques Villeneuve (184.456), Travis Kvapil (184.143), Casey Mears (184.053) and A.J. Allmendinger (184.049).

Johnson, a two-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and 2006 Daytona 500 winner, was also the fastest of the day on Monday with a speed of 184.782 mph.

Tuesday afternoon’s session saw speeds climb in drafting and J.J. Yeley was fastest with a lap of 187.359 mph.

Carl Edwards said late in the day that the draft was a ‘blast’ but that they were noticing blistered tires. Halfway through the afternoon session Reed Sorenson blew a tire and spun out. He didn’t hit anything, but Carl said that he went and looked at the tires that came off Sorenson’s car, and they looked blistered. Casey Mears also blew tire and scraped the wall.

Once they get the tire figured out everything should be fine, Edwards said.

Edwards added that the lingering problem of being able to see through the car in front of you and being able to anticipate trouble is still there like it was at Talladega last fall. He added that NASCAR is looking at working on that.

The final day of testing Today will be an entire day of drafting.

Day 2 Testing Speeds Morning
Day 2 Testing Speeds Afternoon

Day 2 Photo Gallery

 

Expect the first pictures before 11AM.
Until then here are some videos:

Jeff Gordon tests at Daytona International Speedway during 2008 NASCAR Preseason Thunder.

Greg Erwin, crew chief for Greg Biffle, talks about the new car racing at Daytona International Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson talks about racing the new car at Daytona