Four drivers top 191 mph at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH (AP) – Aric Almirola set the pace during Daytona 500 practice, while defending champion Ryan Newman and two-time winner Michael Waltrip ran into a bit of trouble on the speedway Wednesday.
Almirola posted a lap of 191.436 mph (308.07 kph) in his No. 8 Chevrolet during the afternoon session, the fastest lap in either of the hour-long practice runs the day before final qualifying for Sunday’s race.
Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch also topped 191 mph (307 kph) during the afternoon session. All four times were faster than the best laps turned during the morning session, when Kasey Kahne led the way at Daytona International Speedway.
Waltrip and Jamie McMurray will both have to go to a backup car for Thursday’s 150-mile (241-kilometer) qualifiers after colliding during afternoon practice.
The two were in a group coming out of turn four when Waltrip got a little too close to Kasey Kahne. Waltrip’s No. 55 Toyota dipped inside, collecting McMurray’s No. 26 Ford and sending them both spinning onto the grass.
McMurray, who finished second in the Budweiser Shootout last Saturday, said it looked like Kahne and Waltrip were bump-drafting just before the wreck.
“When the 55 hit me it didn’t really tear up a lot, it just left a tire flat and then most of the damage was hitting the dirt,” McMurray said.
Newman had a bumpy morning session, blowing the engine on his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet. He returned for the afternoon run but ran 40th best.
Sprint Cup rookie Joey Logano’s tough week continued during the morning session when his No. 20 Toyota scraped the wall, sending him to the garage six laps in. Logano was unhurt and the car was in good enough shape to return for the afternoon. The 18-year-old escaped his 20-lap stint unscathed.
Still, it wasn’t the best of days for the youngest driver ever to start a 500. He finished second during the ARCA race Saturday but lasted just three laps during the Shootout that night.
Pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. ran 37th in the morning session before improving to 29th in the afternoon. Mark Martin, who will start on the outside pole Sunday, was ninth in the morning and 23rd in the afternoon.
CALL FOR FACELIFT: Superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes Daytona International Speedway could use a facelift. It will have to wait at least three years.
Earnhardt said Wednesday that NASCAR’s most storied track, which hasn’t been repaved since August 1978, is long overdue for a new surface.
“The track is old,” Earnhardt said. “It’s a terrible time to ask anyone to pave a race track, but if anyone needs it, it’s probably Daytona.”
DIS president Robin Braig said the track has a $20 million repaving project planned for 2012. Braig said it has not been decided exactly when the track would be resurfaced – either after the season-opening Daytona 500 or after the July race – and added that information from NASCAR and tire manufacturer Goodyear could alter the plan.
“There’s no issue with money, there’s no issue with technology,” Braig said, pointing out that DIS parent company, International Speedway Corp., repaved Talladega Superspeedway and its steeply banked turns in 2006. “NASCAR and Goodyear are saying tire wear is fine. It’s a $20 million project, but it’s not money we’re talking about. If we don’t need to do it, we’re not going to do it.”
Earnhardt says the 2.5-mile tri-oval is safe, even with its famed bumps in turns two and four, but figures a smoother surface would make for better side-by-side racing and maybe reduce wrecks.
“You just don’t put on a good show,” Earnhardt said. “I like the bumps. If you’re going to ask guys in here, they’re going to say, ‘Awe, man, come on, the bumps are cool.’ They are cool, but they’ll be back. When you pave a track, the dirt underneath always settles. It’ll create new bumps.”
Earnhardt knew it had been a long time since the track was repaved, but was surprised to learn it has been three decades since the last facelift.
SICK DAYS: There seems to be a flu bug working its way around the NASCAR garage. Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray are among the drivers feeling a little under the weather at Daytona, where low temperatures last week were around 27 degrees and highs this week reached 82.
“I got a sinus infection Sunday night, laid in bed all day Monday, Tuesday, which I was going to do anyway,” Earnhardt said. “I feel better getting in the race car. Getting sweaty helps you get better.”
How did Earnhardt pass the time in bed?
“Just lay there and complain and cuss out everybody that comes around you,” he said.