Las Vegas Testing
Vegas testing was this week (and here I am, several days late). With the new reconfiguring of the track from 12 to 20 degrees, 50+ teams with over 90 cars showed up for a chance to check out the new surface. Speeds will increase and lap times will decrease, of course, but the one drawback of going fast is dancing toward the edge of control. Several drivers learned this the hard way.
Day 1 brought in impressive times along with some hard wrecks. In the morning, Scott Riggs led with a lap of 29.426 seconds, or 183.511MPH. Compare that to Kasey Kahne’s 2004 track record of 174.904MPH and you can really see the difference 8 degrees of banking can make! Casey Mears and Kurt Busch were 19th and 22nd respectively in their A cars. Then you have to looks down the charts to find David Reutimann in 39th, Martin Truex in 46th, Dale Jr. in 47th, Michael Waltrip in 63rd, Dale Jarrett in 67th and Brandon Whitt in 77th. It looks bad, but with three more sessions the teams can afford to experiment. I’ve heard over and over again that it’s better to find out what doesn’t work for the car.
PM speeds found Riggs’ teammate Kasey Kahne topping the charts. Kurt moved up to 10th and Casey up to 12th. Junior also improved to 28th and Michael to 36th. But Martin dropped to 45th, David to 53rd, Dale to 59th and Brandon to 74th.
Along with speed, incidents marked the day. Five drivers crashed, including Tony Raines, Reed Sorenson, A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. It was reported by NASCAR that Brandon Whitt blew a motor, but the team denied it. Don’t really know what happened there.
Day 2 hoped to bring improvement for the DEI and MWR camps. In the AM, Paul Menard ripped out an amazing 188.370MPH lap. Dale Jr. followed in 14th place. Then came Casey in 20th, Kurt in 28th, D.J. in 29th, David in 49th, Martin in 57th, Michael in 62nd and Brandon in 71st.
In the PM session, some relief was brought to MWR. Michael shot up to 9th place! Elliott Sadler led with the fastest speed of Vegas testing – 188.772MPH. Dale Jr. sat in 20th, Kurt in 22nd, David in 32nd, Martin in 53rd, Brandon in 65th and Dale in 68th. However, amid the celebration about Michael, we found out that the 8 car damaged one motor and completely demolished a second. Even worse, David was among those who crashed, apparently crunching up his right rear. I believe the damage was not too severe. I suppose we should just be thankful that our drivers did not suffer the fate of poor A.J., who wrecked his second and final car on the last day. How miserable! Rookie David Ragan also slapped the wall.
All in all, it’s difficult to say where the teams are at this point. Obviously, the Evernham Dodges are going to contend for the pole come March. Casey and Kurt appear to be in fine shape to race. DEI looks like it may have to put in some extra hours to improve a bit, but if Paul can release a lap like his Day 2 Session 1 speed, he should be easily in the race. It’s really MWR that I am worried about. Despite Michael’s fast lap, their times usually occupied the bottom of the charts. Dale has 6 championship provisionals, so he’s in the Daytona 500, but I don’t know if the provisionals can be used consecutively (the Busch Series made the 1 out of every 5 races rule, I believe). I think David can qualify, but there are so many uncertainties. However, they are in better shape than poor Brandon. He will be lucky to qualify for any race this season.
If you want to look into more detail, the Vegas Testing times can be found on Jayski.
Only a week till the Bud Shootout! Daytona is coming!!
Day 1 brought in impressive times along with some hard wrecks. In the morning, Scott Riggs led with a lap of 29.426 seconds, or 183.511MPH. Compare that to Kasey Kahne’s 2004 track record of 174.904MPH and you can really see the difference 8 degrees of banking can make! Casey Mears and Kurt Busch were 19th and 22nd respectively in their A cars. Then you have to looks down the charts to find David Reutimann in 39th, Martin Truex in 46th, Dale Jr. in 47th, Michael Waltrip in 63rd, Dale Jarrett in 67th and Brandon Whitt in 77th. It looks bad, but with three more sessions the teams can afford to experiment. I’ve heard over and over again that it’s better to find out what doesn’t work for the car.
PM speeds found Riggs’ teammate Kasey Kahne topping the charts. Kurt moved up to 10th and Casey up to 12th. Junior also improved to 28th and Michael to 36th. But Martin dropped to 45th, David to 53rd, Dale to 59th and Brandon to 74th.
Along with speed, incidents marked the day. Five drivers crashed, including Tony Raines, Reed Sorenson, A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. It was reported by NASCAR that Brandon Whitt blew a motor, but the team denied it. Don’t really know what happened there.
Day 2 hoped to bring improvement for the DEI and MWR camps. In the AM, Paul Menard ripped out an amazing 188.370MPH lap. Dale Jr. followed in 14th place. Then came Casey in 20th, Kurt in 28th, D.J. in 29th, David in 49th, Martin in 57th, Michael in 62nd and Brandon in 71st.
In the PM session, some relief was brought to MWR. Michael shot up to 9th place! Elliott Sadler led with the fastest speed of Vegas testing – 188.772MPH. Dale Jr. sat in 20th, Kurt in 22nd, David in 32nd, Martin in 53rd, Brandon in 65th and Dale in 68th. However, amid the celebration about Michael, we found out that the 8 car damaged one motor and completely demolished a second. Even worse, David was among those who crashed, apparently crunching up his right rear. I believe the damage was not too severe. I suppose we should just be thankful that our drivers did not suffer the fate of poor A.J., who wrecked his second and final car on the last day. How miserable! Rookie David Ragan also slapped the wall.
All in all, it’s difficult to say where the teams are at this point. Obviously, the Evernham Dodges are going to contend for the pole come March. Casey and Kurt appear to be in fine shape to race. DEI looks like it may have to put in some extra hours to improve a bit, but if Paul can release a lap like his Day 2 Session 1 speed, he should be easily in the race. It’s really MWR that I am worried about. Despite Michael’s fast lap, their times usually occupied the bottom of the charts. Dale has 6 championship provisionals, so he’s in the Daytona 500, but I don’t know if the provisionals can be used consecutively (the Busch Series made the 1 out of every 5 races rule, I believe). I think David can qualify, but there are so many uncertainties. However, they are in better shape than poor Brandon. He will be lucky to qualify for any race this season.
If you want to look into more detail, the Vegas Testing times can be found on Jayski.
Only a week till the Bud Shootout! Daytona is coming!!
