Session 1 Practice Speeds

[rpmallen]

Jan 7-9th, 2003 - Cumulative Daytona Test Speeds - Session 1

Does NOT include DRAFTING speeds


Car# Driver Manu Top Speed

1 09 Mike Wallace Dodge 184.053
2 4 Mike Skinner Pontiac 183.786
3 15 Michael Waltrip Chevy 183.572
4 18 Bobby Labonte Chevy 183.539
5 38 Elliott Sadler Ford 183.505
6 49 Ken Schrader Dodge 183.046
7 20 Tony Stewart Chevy 182.997
8 10 Johnny Benson Pontiac 182.994
9 1 Steve Park Chevy 182.964
10 41 Casey Mears Dodge 182.938
11 97 Kurt Busch Ford 182.585
12 2 Rusty Wallace Dodge 182.567
13 42 Jamie McMurray Dodge 182.534
14 99 Jeff Burton Ford 182.400
15 77 Dave Blaney Ford 182.267
16 43 John Andretti Dodge 182.190
17 01 Jerry Nadeau Pontiac 182.171
18 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 181.903
19 5 Terry Labonte Chevy 181.844
20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 181.558
21 02 Hermie Sadler Pontiac 181.382
22 55 Christian Fittipaldi Chevy 181.243
23 59 Carl Long Dodge 181.079
24 74 Tony Raines Chevy 180.422
25 37 Derrike Cope Chevy 179.522

 

[DE Wrangler 2]

After the second half of the tests finish next week pretend all those positions are a deck of cards. Cut, shuffle, cut shuffle, cut shuffle, and cut again..........that is somewhere closer to what all these speed numbers mean.

 

[rpmallen]

Comments:

Mike Wallace finishing practice on top!!! I guess Andy Petree might have wanted to consider having Mike Wallace instead of Christian Fittapaldi after all. I don't think hiring a rookie to make the Daytona 500 was a great move for Petree, but we'll see how it works out.

Great practice for Mike Skinner! Let's hope he has more than a subpar season this year!

Michael Waltrip 3rd!!!!!!!!!!! (should have been first. Oh well, there's always race day)

Bobby Labonte likes the new Chevy.

Elliott Sadler seems to found some extra energy with his new M&M diet. I think he's going to get at least one win this season, and who knows, it could be right here. He is known for finishing well at this track before.

Tony Stewart getting beat by his teammate Bobby Labonte? What's going here, Tony?

Johnny Benson yay!

Steve Park keeps on going. Good practice.

Casey Mears damn..... He's still a rookie, though, so he's not going to have much drafting help at Daytona. But if he makes the field that will be an improvement from Jimmy Spencer's performance at this track last year.

Spok, also known as Kurt Busch, is the top Roush driver so far in 11th. We'll have to see what Martin and Biffle have.

Come on Rusty, is that all that Dodge has? Did you know he's raced in the Daytona 500 more than 20 times and still doesn't have a win, which is a longer winless streak than Dale Earnhardt had when he won.

McMurray??? Not bad for practice, I bet you he misses that silver Dodge, though.

Jeff Burton... maybe he should take some advice from his brother on how to get around this track.

Dave Blaney... not bad. Respectable considering they had a crew chief change during the mid-season.

John Andretti... Don't tell me this is all the Petty cars have to offer. We'll have to see how Kyle does.

Jerry Nadeau isn't doing anything real impressive so far with that new team, but isn't practicing too bad either.

Matt Kenseth... he's better than that. He has to be.

Surprise, surprise. Look where Terry Labonte is.

Jimm Johnson??? Could this be last year's pole sitter practicing 20th.

21st to 25th, you can pretty well consider in pretty big trouble for making this race. If 50 cars show up (there are usually a few more), 10 will be going home, which is about 5 of the cars in each of the 2 sessions. No real surprises at the bottom of the list, but they better find some speed in the next month.