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CUP: Evernham, Sadler Appear Ready to Roll
Written by: Ben Blake, RACER Magazine Las Vegas, Nev. – 1/31/2007

The sun shone on a windy afternoon for Elliott Sadler, but a cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over rookie Allmendinger, highly-touted migrant from Champ Car.

The second an final day of testing at reconfigured Las Vegas Motor Speedway with yet another crash by Allmendinger, who moved to NASCAR with Toyota and Team Red Bull due to uncertain opportunities in the open-wheel series. Allmendinger, 26-year-old Californian, failed to qualify in two NASCAR tries late last season, although he made three Craftsman Truck starts.

Allmendinger has wrecked two cars in two days. The team briefly considered putting him in teammate Brian Vickers's back-up car, then knocked off for the day.

Now for the good news. Sadler, who struggled last year in Robert Yates's aerodynamically deficient cars, was fast at Daytona three weeks ago and rocketed to the top at the 1.5mi Vegas track Tuesday afternoon, recording the fastest time of the two-day try-out.

Teams consider this test to be the more important of the two preseason break-ins, since 20 of the 36 races are run on the so-called aero tracks.

This test also is important because the track has been reshaped since last March's race. From the old 12deg corner banking, it now has graduated banking like that at Homestead, curving up to 20deg. Top speeds have risen about 15mph over the prior track record (174.904mph), set by Kasey Kahne in 2004.

Sadler, now with Ray Evernham's Dodge group, guided his B-car to a top speed of 188.772 in the afternoon runs, surpassing Paul Menards 188.370, recorded in the morning. Sadler was second-fastest before lunch, running 187.118.

The news also is good for Yates, with rookie David Gilliland, who took Sadler's place in the No. 38, running third-fastest in the afternoon (187.175) and in the morning. Ageless teammate Ricky Rudd, returning after a year off, was fourth-best in the morning.

Others with reason for optimism were Evernham's Scott Riggs (Ray's teams seem to be fully prepared heading into 2007), Tony Stewart, and Johnny Sauter, who continues to hold his own among better-funded teams.

The best Toyota's were Michael Waltrip's No. 55 in the afternoon (186.162) and Mike Skinner's No. 23 (Bill Davis) car in the morning. Skinner, regular in Trucks, is helping Davis shake down his Cup cars.

Questions about Goodyear's tires continued, although there were no real disasters. Team, tire and new track seldom merge very well the first time around, and Goodyear engineers were cautioning teams about car set-ups.

A remarkable 55 teams and drivers tried out 88 cars during the two days, this being by far the biggest test of the year in terms of sheer numbers.

The race is scheduled for March 11, third of the new season.