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 5:00 PM

Toyota’s again led the way in the afternoon session, grabbing 9 of the top 10 speeds. Dave Blaney was fastest with a speed of 185.445. Dale Earnhardt Junior was the lone Chevy in the top 10 he was second again with a speed of 185.426. Brian Vickers was third, followed by Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip.

There were no on track incidents Monday.

Teams will return Tuesday for a morning single car session followed by the first drafting session of the week in the afternoon.

Reigning Daytona 500 Champion Kevin Harvick Ready For Defense

Kevin Harvick has a reputation for being a guy who will race any time, any where – whether it’s running his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship team or following up his victory in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte by running in a NASCAR Camping World Series race in Iowa the next day.

So what else would the defending Daytona 500 champion do with his offseason?

“We raced every weekend at my house,” said Harvick of the asphalt go-kart track at his house that drew 10-12 people from the neighborhood on a regular basis. “We started a couple years ago. It’s something we’ve become addicted to. We enjoy it. It’s time to get away from everything, but do something you like to do.”

Harvick’s 2007 eventful season included his victory in the Daytona 500 by just .02 seconds over Mark Martin, the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race win, qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, finishing fourth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings and celebrating Ron Hornaday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title for Kevin Harvick Inc.

“My wife did make me go on vacation for three days,” Harvick said, “but I’m used to moving and going and having things happen all the time. And when you all of a sudden stop, it’s hard to keep yourself entertained. We just kept the pace up and tried to stay home and do everything we could.”

The offseason ended Monday morning for Harvick, as he was the first to take the track for the second week of testing for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams at Daytona International Speedway. Those that were in the even-number positions in the car owner standings as of July 17, 2007, will test through Wednesday, July 16. Odd-number position cars tested last week.

NASCAR Preseason Thunder begins the lead-up to the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17. As a member of the exclusive club of past winners, Harvick has special appreciation for the task at hand.

“It’s all everybody wanted to talk about – whether you won the last race or two weeks ago or whatever you had done,” Harvick said. “And being able to be part of the 50th anniversary celebration with all the past winners is something that’s been pretty cool to be part of.”

Harvick gave Richard Childress his first Daytona 500 victory since Dale Earnhardt in 1998. Harvick will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the Daytona 500 since Sterling Marlin accomplished the feat in 1994-95. Since Marlin, the Daytona 500 winner has finished in the top 10 of the following year’s race just three times (Earnhardt, second in 1999; Michael Waltrip, fifth in 2002; and Dale Earnhardt Jr., third in 2005).

“It’s definitely something you never forget,” Harvick said. “I walked into my wife’s office the other day and she was on YouTube watching the race, and I thought that was pretty cool because it still gives me the chills every time I watch it.”

Harvick also enjoyed a new experience from the other side of the pit wall in 2007. Hornaday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship was the first for KHI and has given Harvick additional insight on what it takes to win a title.

“Ron has a great attitude with his people,” said Harvick, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion for Richard Childress Racing. “I’ve tried over the offseason to apply that and come in with a better attitude with my team. I think this morning everything went really good, and the guys are working with a little bit of a spring in their step.”

Harvick will field one full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series car, while driving the second car himself part-time. KHI will also again field two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rides.

“The goal is to have fun, be competitive, and win races,” Harvick said. “That’s what we built it for. I like to be at the shop and around the race cars. To me, it’s almost like playing a game to try to put all the people in the right places, and to try to put the right chemistry of people together.”

Burton Speaks Out … Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) has heard some of the recent talk about the sport that it isn’t like it ‘used to be.’ And he doesn’t agree with it.

“We have more competitive teams today than we’ve ever had,” said Burton, who followed his RCR teammate Harvick to the Daytona International Speedway infield media center during Monday’s lunch break. “We have more competitive drivers today than we’ve ever had. You can talk about the good old days all you want. The racing today is better than it’s ever been. Those are the facts.

“If there’s something else that has caught the attention of spectators, given time I believe we’ll get them back because ultimately, we do have good racing. Ultimately, we do have competitive racing. We have great viewership. We have great spectators. We have fans that are passionate about it. We have a high level of expectations from our spectators and our fans, which we should. I think this sport is pretty solid. The interesting thing to me is when you ask – and I’ve done that this fall when I was in a position where I was around a bunch of race fans in different situations, and I asked them, ‘What do you think?’ None of them ever complained about the quality of racing.

Burton also talked about the magnitude of the Daytona 500. Both his brother Ward (2002) and teammate Harvick (2007) have Daytona 500 victories. Jeff Burton’s best finish in the event is a second to Dale Jarrett in 2000. He was third last year.

Over Christmas, Jeff Burton stopped by his brother’s house and saw Ward’s Daytona 500 trophy.

“It was pretty special,” Jeff Burton said. “Having that trophy sitting there, that’s the biggest race you can possibly win in our sport. That’s something that no one can ever take away from him, and that’s something he’ll always cherish and his family will. That’s a special thing.”

Between testing and banquets, Burton’s offseason was pretty full – up to a point.

“Christmas got here pretty quick,” Burton said. “Over the last two weeks, I didn’t do anything. So I was either doing a lot or really doing nothing.”

1:00PM :Toyota’s lead the way again, Junior second…

Dale Jarrett led the way in the morning session with a speed of 184.987. Dale Earnhardt Junior was second in his Daytona debut with Hendrick with a speed of 184.646. Dario Franchitti was third in a Dodge, Jarrett was fourth in his ‘B’ car and Tony Stewart in a Camry was fifth .

Top five morning speeds.

44A Jarrett 184.987
88B Earnhardt Junior 184.646
40 Franchitti 184.305
44B Jarrett 184.222
20A Stewart 183.793

12:30: A quiet morning overall. Single car runs were the order of the morning.

One thing we did learn this morning is that Kevin Harvick won’t be voting for Hillary Clinton.

 "I don’t want my president to cry,” Harvick quipped this morning. “Do you want your president to cry?”

Harvick also said that he recently found MSNBC. and started following politics.

“My wife hates it,” Harvick said.

 He admitted he watches the channel now to keep up on the latest in politics.

 “I thought our sport was dirty and backstabbing,” Harvick said.

So who does Harvick like?

"Huckabee," Harvick said. "I just like the way he presents himself."

 

 10:00AM

On a bright chilly morning, the single car runs began for the second session of Sprint Cup testing got underway Monday.

Kevin Harvick in the 29B was first on the track. But of course no one noticed. That’s because all eyes were on Dale Earnhardt Junior. Junior making his Daytona debut with his new Hendrick Motorsports team was fourth out.

 

We are processing the first photos and will have those up soon. Meanwhile the single car runs continue and probably will continue throughout the day.

 

The second week of NASCAR Spring Cup testing kicks off Today, actually it’s day 6 as the Craftsman Truck Series tested Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Several storylines to watch this week;

The speeds could increase this week. Teams who were here last week have had time to share their info with teammates. In fact most of those teams were able to share information as they actually inputted the data into their computers. Those computers are connected to the main frames of company computers allowing engineers in North Carolina to see the data in ‘real time’.

Who has learned what could quickly become evident.

Something else to watch will be the performance of the Toyota’s, especially those belonging to Joe Gibbs Racing.

Kyle Busch took his first laps in a Gibbs Racing Camry last week and ended up on top of the speed charts. This week his teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart will be here. It will be interesting to see if the other two Gibbs Toyota’s are as fast as Busch was.

Of course it’s a surprise to actually see Tony Stewart here. He’s been famous for being absent in January, but he will be testing. That’s just a measure of importance perhaps that Gibbs and Toyota have placed on this test.

Listening to Lee White last week, the director of Motorsports for Toyota, there is no surprise from Toyota themselves that they are doing well. After a miserable season last year, White admitted that all their efforts and engineering have been directed to the new car. A little sandbagging it would seem.

All eyes of the Junior Nation will be looking to Daytona. He’ll be testing here with his new Hendrick Motorsports team and no doubt getting a great deal of attention.

Earnhardt made a surprise appearance here last week and was actually able to walk around the garage area virtually unnoticed. In fact I was talking to Mike Davis from JR Motorsports in the garage first thing last Monday morning. We were catching up on all the offseason news. I happened to glance over and much to my surprise only feet away was Earnhardt Junior. “Just goofing off’ he said.

There were reports that he hung out with his new Hendricks teammates, and while he did do that, he also spent a lot of time around his former DEI team as well.

Another thing to watch for; NASCAR allowed teams to draft together starting during the afternoon of the second day, instead of the traditional third day. Expect the same this week.

So ring the bell; round two is underway.

The following drivers are expected to participate in the second test session this week:

John Andretti (No. 49 WhatsOnline.com Dodge)
Dave Blaney (No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota)
Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet)
Patrick Carpentier (No. 10 Valvoline Dodge)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Mountain Dew AMP/National Guard Chevrolet)
Dario Franchitti (No. 40 Dodge)
David Gilliland (No. 38 Ford)
Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet)
Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 Dodge)
Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge)
Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge)
Jeremy Mayfield (No. 66 Haas Automation Chevrolet)
Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Crown Royal Ford)
Paul Menard (No. 15 Menards Chevrolet)
Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel Dodge)
David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford)
Regan Smith (No. 01 Chevrolet)
Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota)
Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota)
Michael Waltrip (No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota)

Last weeks photos:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3