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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Cars Back On Track
Daytona International Speedway is open for business...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 12, 2012   Daytona Beach, FL
Clint Bowyer hits the track for testing Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. (Image: SPEED.com)
SPEED.com will update testing news from Daytona International Speedway as the day goes on. Check back here for updates throughout the day. Click here for a full schedule of streaming and broadcast information.

Our long national nightmare is over. NASCAR Sprint Cup cars are on track today.

5 p.m. — Day 1 of practice ends uneventfully, with three teams on top of the speed charts: Joe Gibbs Racing (1. Kyle Busch, 2. Joey Logano); Penske Racing (3. Brad Keselowski, 4. AJ Allmendinger); and Hendrick Motorsports (5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 6. Jimmie Johnson).

3:48 p.m. — Now the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas go to the top of the speed charts. Kyle Busch, with a push from Joey Logano, cranks off a fast lap of 202.402 mph.

3:38 p.m. — Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson are the first to crack the 200 miles per hour barrier. Junior runs 200.920 mph, Johnson close behind at 200.915.

3:27 p.m. — Brad Keselowski is atop the speed charts at 199.548 miles per hour as the second session passes the halfway point at Daytona.

2:49 p.m. — Activity is much slower in the afternoon session, with only a few teams trying to tandem draft: They include the two Penske Dodges of Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger; the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Kyle Busch and Joey Logano; and the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas of Mark Martin and Clint Bowyer. Busch and Logano run over 199 miles per hour together, up from the top single-car morning speeds in the 192 mph range.

1:58 p.m. — Darian Grubb, the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship crew chief, got a chance to test at Daytona today with Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Grubb’s new team for 2012.

“It’s been very interesting — a lot of things to learn with the people and the faces and putting all those things together,” said Grubb. “Other than that, it’s just definitely a top-notch organization. They have a lot of good equipment, a lot of good things, a lot of good people, so now it’s just putting all those things in one direction and try to go win a championship.”

1:45 p.m. — The first incident of the day occurred when Mark Martin turned his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate around in Turn 1, tearing up the left rear of Bowyer’s No. 15 MWR Toyota.

1:15 p.m. — By design, Mark Martin will race just 25 NASCAR Sprint Cup races this year, similar to the 24-race schedule he ran with Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007-08. And Martin is plenty happy to be running only part-time for his new team, Michael Waltrip Racing.

“Do you see this big old smile on my face? Yeah, buddy, I'm telling you, I'm thrilled,” he said during the lunch break at Daytona testing. “I'm back to the schedule that I ran in '07 and '08, and I'm really, really  I've had a great offseason, had the time of my life with Hendrick Motorsports and made friends for life there. But this is a new challenge from an organization standpoint, a lot of new faces, and then a lot of guys I've worked with before. I couldn't believe it when I walked through the shop the first time. You can't believe how many people I've worked with before that are at MWR now. And obviously I was in a position where I got to choose the races and how many. So it's just exactly where I want to be in life right now.”

1 p.m. — Practice resumes. Unlike this morning, drafting is optional. But in all likelihood, very few teams will do a lot of drafting. If they do, lap speeds could jump about 10 miles per hour into the 200-205 mph range.

11:57 a.m. — Team owner Richard Childress said each of his team’s three Chevrolets is trying a different package of chassis and/or engine setups in order to see how their cars perform with the new rules package.

“I think there’s a lot of unknowns until they get out drafting,” said Childress. Drafting practice is from 1-5 p.m. today and will be televised live on SPEED.

11:49 a.m. — “It’s great to be back at the track and great to see the fan turnout for testing,” said Brad Keselowski, who had a breakout season in the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge last year. This could be another big year for him.

11:45 a.m. — It’s still early, but the Chevrolets certainly look strong, with seven of the 10 fastest cars so far carrying the Bowtie. Six of those seven have Hendrick Motorsports engines. The top 10 now: Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch.

11:20 a.m. — The late, great David Poole used to say, “Fun. You just can’t beat it.” Evidently Kurt Busch believes that, too, especially now that he’s left the button-down world of Penske Racing for the much looser James Finch and the free-spirited Phoenix Racing team, which used Hendrick Motorsports engined in its Chevrolets.

“Everybody’s just giddy right now,” said Busch, who jumped up to third on the speed chart ... It feels great to have Hendrick power. I’ve never driven a Chevy.”

His 2012 strategy? “We’re going to work hard and play hard,” said Busch.

11:07 a.m. — “A lot of new for me this off-season,” said Clint Bowyer, who for 2012 is with a new team (Michael Waltrip Racing), a new car number (15), a new sponsor (5-Hour Energy), a new crew chief (Brian Pattie) and a new manufacturer (Toyota). That’s an awful lot of change to cope with.

10:51 a.m. — The order now: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

10:21 a.m. — Danica Patrick’s first lap in a Sprint Cup car at Daytona International Speedway was 188.707 mph, good for 24th fastest in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. On her second lap, she jumped up to fifth on the speed charts, topping the 190 mph barrier.

10:05 a.m. — Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, said his car has 60-70 data collection sensors on it. Those are allowed because this is a track test, not a NASCAR test. The sensors will monitor all manner of engine, chassis and aerodynamic data.

9:52 a.m. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost an alternator belt on his first run, but he said fuel injection doesn’t affect how his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet drives. “It won’t be any different ... you don’t even notice it,” he said.

Earnhardt was decidedly upbeat about his 2012 prospects. “I’m actually having fun,” he said. “I’ve been ready to get back in the car since we left Homestead. We got a pretty good year ahead of us if we keep our nose clean.”

And how did Earnhardt spend his offseason? Playing 200 hours of “Battlefield 3.”

“Everything’s smooth so far,” said 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who will drive the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in the Daytona 500. Beyond that, his Sprint Cup schedule is up in the air.

9:45 a.m. — Here’s a shocker: Chad Knaus is on vacation, leaving car chief Ron Malec and engineer Greg Ives to run the Daytona test for five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

9:30 a.m. — Paul Menard now on top of the speed charts with a lap of 191.469 mph in the No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Guess Menardi Gras is starting early this year. Then it’s Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Keselowski.

It’s almost time for Danica Patrick to roll off. “I hope it’s fast. I hope it’s really fast,” said Patrick as she gets ready for her first Sprint Cup testing at Daytona. “ ... It’s nice to know somebody’s going to be there to give you the kind of car you need.”

9:19 a.m. — One driver not at Daytona yet is Tony Stewart, who finished third in the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals last night and will race for a Golden Driller on Saturday night. Stewart is expected in Daytona later this morning. Teammate Ryan Newman is out, too. He has stomach flu, which his wife and daughter had previously.

Denny Hamlin now has a winter home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Why? “I wanted to get serious about my golf game,” Hamlin said.

9:02 a.m. — Brad Keselowski is the first car on track, followed by Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon, as it’s single-car runs only in the morning session. Gordon runs 191.095 miles per hour early on. That's fast, folks.

9 a.m. — Daytona International Speedway is officially open for business, with a three-day test now open for teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. For many of the teams, this will be the first test of new driver-crew chief combinations and for everyone, it will be the first time for a new rules package designed to break up the two-car tandem drafting.

From now until noon, the testing will all be single-car runs. Drafting practice is from 1-5 p.m. And because this is a track test and not a NASCAR test, there is no tech inspection for the cars.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TESTING: During the Jan. 12-14 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway, fans can submit questions and comments through Twitter @SPEED (http://www.twitter.com/speed) using the #daytonatesting hashtag.
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