|
Craftsman Truck testing news from Daytona
01-14-2007
Roush Racing Flexes Muscle in Preseason Thunder at Daytona
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2006, no NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team was more dominant at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway than Roush Racing. Mark Martin drove to victory in both races, starting from the pole on each occasion. Additionally, Erik Darnell was sixth at Daytona in his debut race in the series, and David Ragan was seventh at Talladega after starting alongside Martin on the front row.
After the first shakedown runs of the 2007 Preseason Thunder test sessions at Daytona, it seems as if the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is facing the prospect of again following the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford when we return to officially kick off the season during SpeedWeeks.
Martin's replacement, 2003 series titlist Travis Kvapil, picked up right where his predecessor left off over three-day test, leading each session. Kvapil ran two trucks for the No. 6 team, and took the top two spots in Friday morning's single-truck runs, while Roush rookie Peter Shepherd was third and defending Raybestos Rookie of the Year Darnell was fourth. Kvapil's quick lap by himself was 178.881 mph.
Kvapil makes his return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after two years in the Nextel Cup Series. Upon his return to the Truck Series, he said he was surprised how similar his new ride feels to the Cup cars he's been used to.
"With the tires and the rules and the things as they are these days, I was surprised how similar the truck was to a Cup car," Kvapil said. "The biggest thing I noticed was a little less horsepower, but the handling and even a lot of the setups we had under the truck were very similar. I don't want to say anyone can do it, but it's pretty easy to get a truck around Daytona by itself. The trucks move around here at Daytona more than the Cup cars do, for sure, but at the same time they're so much fun to race that I can't wait to come back here next month."
While Shepherd and Darnell weren't able to sweep the top spots in the afternoon's drafting session, Kvapil was again on top of the sheet during Friday's P.M. drills. In the draft, Kvapil turned the fastest lap of the weekend with a 186.521 mph average speed.
Behind Kvapil on the drafting speed charts was 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate A.J. Allmendinger, three-time series champion Jack Sprague, series newcomer Tyler Walker, and 1995 series champ Mike Skinner as Toyota drivers rounded out the remainder of the top five. Kraig Kinser was the quickest Chevrolet driver in sixth with a 183.820 mph lap, and the fastest Dodge driver was Chase Miller just behind in seventh with a 183.606 mph effort.
The only incident of the day on Friday involved NCTS newcomer Aaron Fike, now driving for the Red Horse Racing team, who spun up the banking in turn two after getting loose in traffic. Fike brushed the wall with the rear of his truck, but did significant damage to the nose of the newly renumbered No. 1 Toyota when he slid down the banking and onto the apron. The damage was minor, but enough to bring a premature end of the session for the former USAC open wheel standout.
Kvapil picked up right where he left off in Saturday morning's single truck runs, again sitting on top of the charts with both trucks while his Roush teammates fell in behind.Kvapil's top solo speed was quicker than his effort on Friday at 179.354 mph.
Allmendinger was the top Toyota pilot in fifth at 177.144 mph, Ron Hornaday was the fastest Chevrolet driver in ninth at 175.891 mph, while Chase Miller was the fastest Dodge driver in 14th 175.421 mph.
Tyler Walker had a left rear tire shred coming out of turn two during the morning session, and he spun sideways down the backstretch. Walker's Bill Davis Racing No. 36 Toyota suffered minor damage in the spin, but was banged up on the back of the wrecker on the ride back in to the garage.
Kvapil continued to exert his dominance in the afternoon drafting runs, placing both of his trucks in the top five on the speed charts. His quick lap was 184.756 mph in the "A" truck, while the 183.996 mph circuit in the "B" truck was good for fifth. Jack Sprague was second quick at 184.336 mph, last year's series runner-up Johnny Benson was third at 184.317 mph, and former Daytona pole winner Terry Cook was fourth in his new ride with the HT Motorsports No. 59 Toyota at 184.271mph
Bill Lester had problems midway through the afternoon session when his No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet jumped sideways through the middle of turns three and four in a pack of traffic. Lester's spin threw up a huge cloud of smoke, scattering the pack behind him. Willie Allen jumped on the brakes and took to the apron, sliding out of control through the grass. Neither truck involved suffered serious damage, and both were able to drive back to the garage area under their own power.
"I was going through the center of turn three and the truck just went left and jumped sideways," Lester said. "I asked (Ken) Schrader, who was behind me, and he said it just went sideways all of a sudden. If that's all that happens here at Daytona when you spin out, you need to consider yourself lucky. Maybe that will be our dose of bad luck here this year and we got it out of the way early."
Sunday's session was drastically shortened when wet weather forced the cancellation of the morning session. After washing out the morning session, the weather cleared allowing a full afternoon session.
Kraig Kinser jumped to the top of the charts early on and stayed there throughout the afternoon in the No. 47 Chevrolet. Kinser's lap of 182.945 mph was quick enough to keep the Toyotas of Benson and Skinner off the top of the charts. Ken Schrader was fourth throughout the day with Matt Crafton in fifth. But late in the day, Kvapil picked up a draft from his Roush teammate Peter Shepherd and went to the top of the charts with a 184.778 mph to complete the clean sweep of thr weekend.
There were two incidents in the afternoon session. Blake Bjorklund spun in the second hour coming off turn four after the truck following him in a tight draft sucked the air off the rear spoiler. Bjorklund, a development driver for Haas CNC Racing and the 2006 ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie of the year, didn't make any contact and drove back to the garage. The second incident involved UK native John Mickel, who spun off turn four and made contact with the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. Mickel's No. 63 MB Motorsports Ford suffered heavy damage to the nose and was done for the remainder of the day.
TruckSeries.com will have complete coverage of the Chevy Silverado HD 250 during Daytona SpeedWeeks starting with TrackSideLive! coverage of practice on February 13 and Thursday February 14. Live! Bud Pole Qualifying will come off on Thursday February 14 at 7 P.M. Eastern.
__________________
If You Wont Stand Behind OUR TROOPS please feel free to stand in front of them
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
The JACK CREW!!!
|
Linear Mode
