NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Usual Suspects Spin Fast Laps At Daytona
Teams have extra week to fine-tune cars prior to start of SpeedWeeks…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 16, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Kurt Busch was one of the biggest losers of the off-season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The speeds – at least for a while – were spectacular, floating in the 206-plus range. The pack drafting brought back some pleasant memories of times not that long past. And tandem drafting? It lives still.

Through it all – three days, thousands of laps, new race cars, new team combinations, who left Daytona International Speedway testing with the brightest future, with SpeedWeeks looming on the horizon?

Some of the usual suspects were in the top 10 speed-wise, although the top two spots were somewhat of a surprise.

Kurt Busch, late of Penske Racing and now driving for Phoenix Racing and team owner James Finch, had the fastest speed – 206.058 mph – of the three days. Finch normally has strong cars at Daytona and Talladega, but it’s still a good sign for Busch that he was able to click off attention-grabbing laps in his first outing with the team.

Second to Busch in that super-fast draft was Regan Smith, last year’s Southern 500 winner, at 206.053. Smith returns to Furniture Row Racing, the Denver-based team that remains a second-line outfit but one that can spring surprises.

The 10 fastest speeds of the three days all were posted Friday afternoon when most of the drivers present grouped in a pack for some of the “old school” drafting that once defined Daytona and Talladega. The top 10 speeds all were over 204.

Single- and two-car drafts were in the 201 range.

Running strong laps in both sorts of sessions were drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Penske Racing. Stewart-Haas Racing had the week’s 15th and 16th speeds, and Roush Fenway Racing was at positions 20, 21, 22 and 23.

One of the busiest drivers of the week was Hendrick’s Kasey Kahne, who ran numerous setups on the No. 5 Chevrolet as he and crew chief Kenny Francis began the process of acclimating to their new situation.

Kahne left Daytona having impressed observers with his speed – he was fifth fastest – and consistency, and there already is talk that he will be among the major Daytona 500 contenders.

With the 500 scheduled a week later this year, teams will have an extra week to prepare Daytona cars and also to work on entries for the downforce races that follow – at Phoenix and Las Vegas.

“The start of the season, with the 500 as our first event, we walk into a pressure cooker right away,” said Jimmie Johnson. “Leaving there with the limited testing that we have, you go to the first couple fast race tracks, downforce tracks, wondering if everything you worked on in the shop is going to pay off or not. So there is a lot of pressure for the first, I don't know, four or five races just to find out where you're at.

“And then from there you can address some problems and try to correct any issues that you have or sit there on top of the pile and be real happy with the work that took place over the off-season. Coming out of the gate, there is a lot of pressure for the first few weeks.”

Even for those who ran well at Daytona, there is a sense of the unknown as another long season begins.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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