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From NASCAR.com
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- NASCAR Winston Cup cars Wednesday continued a three-day trend at the redesigned Homestead-Miami Speedway, specifically being about 20 mph faster than they were when the track was in its previous configuration.
International Speedway Corporation invested more than $10 million in the 1.5-mile South Florida oval to raise the angle in the corners from six degrees to a variably banked 20 degrees.
NASCAR's three national touring series tested this week in advance of Ford Championship Weekend, which includes the season finales for the Craftsman Truck Series (Friday), Busch Series (Saturday) and Winston Cup Series (Sunday).
In unofficial hand-timed laps randomly recorded Wednesday, Johnny Benson "claimed" the fastest time, 30.35 seconds, an average speed of 177.924 mph. That is more than 21 mph faster than Steve Park's Bud Pole Qualifying record of 34.518 / 156.440, set in November 2000.
Virtually all of the 49 entered teams practiced and many reported they were mostly running in race trim on Wednesday, which would account for as much as a 3 to 5 mph slowdown from qualifying trim.
Other fast laps reported Wednesday included Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30.60 / 176.471), two-time Homestead winner Tony Stewart (30.70 / 175.896), Ryan Newman (30.80 / 175.325) and Jimmie Johnson (30.98 / 174.306).
One of the drivers who has yet to see the new layout is Sterling Marlin, who was absent from Homestead on Wednesday because of a continuing federal court case in Tennessee, in which a race fan who went on a group cruise with Marlin in 2001 sued him for assault.
In Marlin's absence, Busch Series rookie David Stremme, who is in team owner Chip Ganassi's driver development program, took his place.
"I'm not sure what Sterling's status is because I haven't had a chance to talk to him today," crew chief Lee McCall said. "They couldn't do it Tuesday or Thursday, so hopefully they got it solved today and we'll get him in the car Friday."
McCall said it was at least the third time Stremme has tested a Cup car for Ganassi.
"We did a test at Lakeland (Fla.) and another at Kentucky and he's done a great job for us," McCall said. "He's got a bright future ahead of him and I really enjoy working with him.
"The test today went good. We tried a bunch of different things and (David) running yesterday helped give us a head start on today. Him and Sterling have a somewhat similar driving style so we can apply a lot of that for Friday."
The only wall contact Wednesday apparently was Todd Bodine's cosmetic scraping of the No. 54 National Guard Ford.
On Tuesday, Busch Series point leader Brian Vickers crashed a car badly enough to have to go to a backup for Saturday's Ford 300, as did Busch part-timer Brad Baker.
Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series Bud Pole Qualifying are scheduled Thursday afternoon. Winston Cup cars are off the track until Friday.
Most drivers on hand continued a chorus in praise of the redesign, which was completed just after mid-October, calling it a "dramatic improvement." The increase in speed certainly contributed to that feeling.
"This surface is the most promising of any new racetrack we've been to recently," Ricky Craven said. "The track has a ton of grip, which is to be expected on a new surface (but) even in the short time we've been out there, you can tell that it should be good for some side-by-side racing once it gets some seasoning."
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- NASCAR Winston Cup cars Wednesday continued a three-day trend at the redesigned Homestead-Miami Speedway, specifically being about 20 mph faster than they were when the track was in its previous configuration.
International Speedway Corporation invested more than $10 million in the 1.5-mile South Florida oval to raise the angle in the corners from six degrees to a variably banked 20 degrees.
NASCAR's three national touring series tested this week in advance of Ford Championship Weekend, which includes the season finales for the Craftsman Truck Series (Friday), Busch Series (Saturday) and Winston Cup Series (Sunday).
In unofficial hand-timed laps randomly recorded Wednesday, Johnny Benson "claimed" the fastest time, 30.35 seconds, an average speed of 177.924 mph. That is more than 21 mph faster than Steve Park's Bud Pole Qualifying record of 34.518 / 156.440, set in November 2000.
Virtually all of the 49 entered teams practiced and many reported they were mostly running in race trim on Wednesday, which would account for as much as a 3 to 5 mph slowdown from qualifying trim.
Other fast laps reported Wednesday included Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30.60 / 176.471), two-time Homestead winner Tony Stewart (30.70 / 175.896), Ryan Newman (30.80 / 175.325) and Jimmie Johnson (30.98 / 174.306).
One of the drivers who has yet to see the new layout is Sterling Marlin, who was absent from Homestead on Wednesday because of a continuing federal court case in Tennessee, in which a race fan who went on a group cruise with Marlin in 2001 sued him for assault.
In Marlin's absence, Busch Series rookie David Stremme, who is in team owner Chip Ganassi's driver development program, took his place.
"I'm not sure what Sterling's status is because I haven't had a chance to talk to him today," crew chief Lee McCall said. "They couldn't do it Tuesday or Thursday, so hopefully they got it solved today and we'll get him in the car Friday."
McCall said it was at least the third time Stremme has tested a Cup car for Ganassi.
"We did a test at Lakeland (Fla.) and another at Kentucky and he's done a great job for us," McCall said. "He's got a bright future ahead of him and I really enjoy working with him.
"The test today went good. We tried a bunch of different things and (David) running yesterday helped give us a head start on today. Him and Sterling have a somewhat similar driving style so we can apply a lot of that for Friday."
The only wall contact Wednesday apparently was Todd Bodine's cosmetic scraping of the No. 54 National Guard Ford.
On Tuesday, Busch Series point leader Brian Vickers crashed a car badly enough to have to go to a backup for Saturday's Ford 300, as did Busch part-timer Brad Baker.
Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series Bud Pole Qualifying are scheduled Thursday afternoon. Winston Cup cars are off the track until Friday.
Most drivers on hand continued a chorus in praise of the redesign, which was completed just after mid-October, calling it a "dramatic improvement." The increase in speed certainly contributed to that feeling.
"This surface is the most promising of any new racetrack we've been to recently," Ricky Craven said. "The track has a ton of grip, which is to be expected on a new surface (but) even in the short time we've been out there, you can tell that it should be good for some side-by-side racing once it gets some seasoning."