Gaughan fastest in first Truck test at Homestead
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive November 11, 2003
3:43 PM EST (2043 GMT)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The redesigned Homestead-Miami Speedway, its turns banked three-fold from a year ago and now in its third configuration in its nine-year history, officially debuted its racing surface Monday as NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors tested for Friday's Ford 200 race.
All 44 trucks that are entered for the 201-mile event, the opening race of the 1.5-mile track's Ford Championship Weekend, which closes out the 2003 seasons for the trucks, Winston Cup Series and Busch Series, practiced Monday.
With the track now having 20-degree banking in the corners rather than the basically flat, six degrees grades used last season, speeds increased dramatically, as predicted.
The majority of the drivers practiced well above the existing series track record of 149.283 mph, set four years ago by Randy Tolsma. Series championship leader Brendan Gaughan, a six-time winner this season who'll carry a 26-point advantage into Friday's race, had the fastest unofficially compiled hand-timed lap.
Gaughan's No. 62 Orleans Dodge posted a lap in 32.100 seconds; an average speed of 168.224 mph. Second was 1998 Homestead Truck Series winner Rick Crawford in the No. 14 Circle Bar Ford, at 32.120 / 168.119.
"This one is coming down to the last turn of the last lap at Miami and that's the way you want it," Gaughan said. "So many of these mile and a half tracks are being built and they are still barely over a groove wide.
"I'm notorious for being up towards the wall and I'm cat-fishing it right now -- I'm at the bottom and I'm watching guys up towards the wall where I normally am. It's literally four grooves wide."
Rounding out the top-five speeds were Ted Musgrave, who is second in the championship in the No. 1 Mopar Dodge, at 167.846 mph; his teammate Andy Houston in the No. 2 ASE/CARQUEST Dodge (167.338) and another championship contender, fourth place Dennis Setzer in the No. 46 Acxiom Chevrolet (167.286).
Bobby Hamilton Racing teammates Hamilton and Chad Chaffin were next on the speed chart in Dodges, followed by the other top-five runners in the championship, third place Travis Kvapil's Chevrolet, fifth place Jon Wood's Ford and BHR driver Bill Lester's Dodge.
Lester had the only incident of the day when he scuffed the right side of his truck into the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2, causing only superficial damage.
The uplift of the banking elevates the track's speed range to something more akin to other high-banked 1.5-mile tracks, such as Kansas City and Chicagoland Speedway. Gaughan called the $10 million price tag for the rebuild "money well spent."
"I'm a mile and a half (track) type of guy and this place is right up my alley," said Gaughan, who counts half of his 2003 wins on tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length. "This is what they rebuilt the track for."
Gaughan can win the championship with a finish of fourth place or better, regardless of how his point rivals finish.
Musgrave, whose first series victory came here in 2001, has mixed feelings about the change.
"I really liked the old track because I had a handle on it," said Musgrave, a three-time winner this season. "You had to really work on the setups and have your truck working perfectly. But it's a whole new deal this year (where) you're running wide open and steering."
Hamilton, who like Musgrave has extensive Winston Cup experience, called the track similar to another venue that was redesigned six years ago.
"The track's new configuration is like an old Atlanta Motor Speedway," Hamilton said. "It's fast, but that's not a huge change from the other times we've been here. I like the way the track drives now."
Houston, who has raced here in both Winston Cup and Craftsman Truck vehicles, said he found a distinct difference in each end of the venue.
"One thing I've noticed is that Turns 1 and 2 are tighter than 3 and 4. We can go about wide open in 3 and 4, but you have to come out of it in Turns 1 and 2. The banking has made that (1 and 2) corner a little tighter because the back straight is higher than the front straight.
"I never noticed it when the track was flat, but now you notice it."
Hamilton joined most of his fellow competitors praising the job the Homestead management did in the redesign.
"They did a great job making all these changes and putting this place back so smoothly," Hamilton said.
Rookie Brandon Whitt said two days of testing by Busch Series and Winston Cup teams Tuesday and Wednesday would be critical in determining how many lanes are available for racing Friday, based on what he saw from the seat of his Cure Autism Now Chevrolet.
"Most new tracks, you just don't see side-by-side racing for at least a few races; for some, a few years," Whitt said. "At first, everybody ran up top (in the turns) because there was no grip. But as more rubber was put down, more teams were able to move down.
"Of course, if it rains hard, then it will have to start all over again, but I think even then it will come back in pretty fast. They did a great job. The track is really smooth all the way around.
"It's going to be fast but it's going to be racy, too."
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive November 11, 2003
3:43 PM EST (2043 GMT)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The redesigned Homestead-Miami Speedway, its turns banked three-fold from a year ago and now in its third configuration in its nine-year history, officially debuted its racing surface Monday as NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors tested for Friday's Ford 200 race.
All 44 trucks that are entered for the 201-mile event, the opening race of the 1.5-mile track's Ford Championship Weekend, which closes out the 2003 seasons for the trucks, Winston Cup Series and Busch Series, practiced Monday.
With the track now having 20-degree banking in the corners rather than the basically flat, six degrees grades used last season, speeds increased dramatically, as predicted.
The majority of the drivers practiced well above the existing series track record of 149.283 mph, set four years ago by Randy Tolsma. Series championship leader Brendan Gaughan, a six-time winner this season who'll carry a 26-point advantage into Friday's race, had the fastest unofficially compiled hand-timed lap.
Gaughan's No. 62 Orleans Dodge posted a lap in 32.100 seconds; an average speed of 168.224 mph. Second was 1998 Homestead Truck Series winner Rick Crawford in the No. 14 Circle Bar Ford, at 32.120 / 168.119.
"This one is coming down to the last turn of the last lap at Miami and that's the way you want it," Gaughan said. "So many of these mile and a half tracks are being built and they are still barely over a groove wide.
"I'm notorious for being up towards the wall and I'm cat-fishing it right now -- I'm at the bottom and I'm watching guys up towards the wall where I normally am. It's literally four grooves wide."
Rounding out the top-five speeds were Ted Musgrave, who is second in the championship in the No. 1 Mopar Dodge, at 167.846 mph; his teammate Andy Houston in the No. 2 ASE/CARQUEST Dodge (167.338) and another championship contender, fourth place Dennis Setzer in the No. 46 Acxiom Chevrolet (167.286).
Bobby Hamilton Racing teammates Hamilton and Chad Chaffin were next on the speed chart in Dodges, followed by the other top-five runners in the championship, third place Travis Kvapil's Chevrolet, fifth place Jon Wood's Ford and BHR driver Bill Lester's Dodge.
Lester had the only incident of the day when he scuffed the right side of his truck into the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2, causing only superficial damage.
The uplift of the banking elevates the track's speed range to something more akin to other high-banked 1.5-mile tracks, such as Kansas City and Chicagoland Speedway. Gaughan called the $10 million price tag for the rebuild "money well spent."
"I'm a mile and a half (track) type of guy and this place is right up my alley," said Gaughan, who counts half of his 2003 wins on tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length. "This is what they rebuilt the track for."
Gaughan can win the championship with a finish of fourth place or better, regardless of how his point rivals finish.
Musgrave, whose first series victory came here in 2001, has mixed feelings about the change.
"I really liked the old track because I had a handle on it," said Musgrave, a three-time winner this season. "You had to really work on the setups and have your truck working perfectly. But it's a whole new deal this year (where) you're running wide open and steering."
Hamilton, who like Musgrave has extensive Winston Cup experience, called the track similar to another venue that was redesigned six years ago.
"The track's new configuration is like an old Atlanta Motor Speedway," Hamilton said. "It's fast, but that's not a huge change from the other times we've been here. I like the way the track drives now."
Houston, who has raced here in both Winston Cup and Craftsman Truck vehicles, said he found a distinct difference in each end of the venue.
"One thing I've noticed is that Turns 1 and 2 are tighter than 3 and 4. We can go about wide open in 3 and 4, but you have to come out of it in Turns 1 and 2. The banking has made that (1 and 2) corner a little tighter because the back straight is higher than the front straight.
"I never noticed it when the track was flat, but now you notice it."
Hamilton joined most of his fellow competitors praising the job the Homestead management did in the redesign.
"They did a great job making all these changes and putting this place back so smoothly," Hamilton said.
Rookie Brandon Whitt said two days of testing by Busch Series and Winston Cup teams Tuesday and Wednesday would be critical in determining how many lanes are available for racing Friday, based on what he saw from the seat of his Cure Autism Now Chevrolet.
"Most new tracks, you just don't see side-by-side racing for at least a few races; for some, a few years," Whitt said. "At first, everybody ran up top (in the turns) because there was no grip. But as more rubber was put down, more teams were able to move down.
"Of course, if it rains hard, then it will have to start all over again, but I think even then it will come back in pretty fast. They did a great job. The track is really smooth all the way around.
"It's going to be fast but it's going to be racy, too."
