Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
Testing News
1. Dale Jr is the fastest overall for both single car test sessions (185.820 mph in the 88B).
2. There are no Fords in the top 10 fastest cars.
3. The fastest Ford was Travis Kvapil who placed 12th on the speed charts in the 28B car at 184.143 mph - almost a full 2 mph behind Dale Jr.
4. The highest Dodge, in 8th, was Dario Franchitti in the #40 at 184.737 mph.
5. The next two highest Dodges were in 18th and 23rd.
6. Toyota had 11 cars in the top 20.
7. Positions 2-6 were all occupied by Toyotas.
8. Even though Chevy was in the top spot with Dale Jr there were only 3 other bowties in the top 20.
9. All 4 of the Chevies in the top 20 were Rick Hendrick cars.
10. Most surprising of all? RCR cars finished 42nd (Bowyer), 46th (Burton), 50th (Harvick), and 51st (Shelmerdine).
My predictions?
- Toyota will qualify well for the twin 125’s, but racing in a draft is different than going solo.
- Dodge is in trouble. Period. GEM needs to get its act together, and they need to do it fast.
- I think RCR might have went a little conservative with their engine packages for the test, and maybe pulled some wrong gears. I think they are more worried about racing as opposed to going fast by yourself on the track in qualifying trim. Or they could be in a whole mess of trouble for all I know.
- Rick Hendrick is smiling right now and will continue to smile all through Speed Weeks and well past the Daytona 500. Yep it is going to be a Hendrick car that wins the 500 this year, and you might be surprised by who it is too.
- Speaking of trouble, I expect the big-wigs at Ford are chewing their nails right now and are scrambling to give RoushYates any help they can give in the engine department.
Now For The Favour
It is that time of year again where the Canadian Blog Awards are being determined. This little old blog is up for Best Sports Blog in Canada and as far as I know it is the only motorsport based blog nominated.
What I am asking you for is your vote. You need only to vote once per round, and your votes do count - I lost second place in the Best Post category last year by 3 votes and ended up finishing 3rd.
I also ask another favour of you, my faithful readers, (do I know how to suck up or what?). My other blog “The Works of Stephen King: A Fan’s Perspective” has also been nominated in “The Best New Blog” category, so could you vote for that one too? Thanks! Again you need only to vote once for each round.
Thanks and take care.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Reinhold Matay
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