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SPEED Staff
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SPEEDtv.com
05/13/2008 - 07:43 AM
Concord, NC
Denny Hamlin and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team continued their early season NATIONWIDE Series domination by topping the speed charts in both afternoon and evening test sessions at LMS. (Harold Hinson Photo) ยป More Photos
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota continued to dominate the NASCAR Nationwide Series Monday at Lowe's Motor Speedway as Denny Hamlin set the pace during testing for the May 24 CARQUEST Auto Parts 300.
The No. 20 car has won four consecutive races with three different drivers and Hamlin topped the speed chart in both sessions on the first of two days of testing. His evening lap of 29.635 seconds, 182.217 mph, was clearly superior among the more than 40 cars that took to the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
Defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards was second fastest on the electronic timers at 182.014 mph in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Ford.
Kasey Kahne, winner of last year's CARQUEST Auto Parts 300, was third fastest in the No. 9 Gillett Evernham Dodge at 181.947 mph while Greg Biffle was fourth at 181.708 in the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford. Rookie Chase Miller rounded out the top five at 181.549 mph in the No. 19 Gillett Evernham Dodge.
David Stremme, driver of Rusty Wallace's No. 64 Dodge, said the horsepower difference between the Nationwide cars and the Sprint Cup cars has a tremendous impact on how a driver approaches the
"We got to run the Penske car here last week both days and, obviously, it was a little warmer, but a Cup car is not as fast through the corners as what a Nationwide car is," Stremme explained. "So, at this time on the first day last week, we were already in the second or third lane, running against the wall and a lot of that is because the Cup cars have so much more horsepower.
"You're going into the corner faster, so you have to slow down a little bit more in the center and then you can power off. In the Nationwide car, you're almost wide open for a lap or two and then the tires fall off a little bit. You carry so much more speed through the corners you have to run the bottom of the race track. If I was a betting man, I'd almost bet that the Cup cars are going to race around the top, and whoever's car can run the middle to the bottom is going to be out front.
"The Nationwide race is going to be on the bottom and whoever's car is turning the best will win," Stremme continued. "There's no power in these cars. They don't run down the straightaway, so you've got to get all your speed through the corners."
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