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Preseason Thunder on SPEED from California
Written by: Steve Keller
TruckSeries.com   http://www.truckseries.com
01/31/2008 - 09:22 PM
Fontana, Ca.
 
Ryan Newman, driver of the #12 Alltel Dodge, drives during NASCAR Sprint Cup testing at California Speedway on January 31, 2008 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) ยป More Photos

NASCAR Preseason Thunder on SPEED continued Thursday from California Speedway with coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing. John Roberts hosted the special from pit road with analysis from Jeff Hammond and Bob Dillner. SPEED’s extensive coverage of off-season testing will wrap up Friday at California Speedway at 7 p.m. ET. Following are excerpts from Thursday’s show, including interviews with Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Dave Blaney and Bob Dillner.

Denny Hamlin: The car was a lot better here than at Vegas. I think we found some things on that off day (Wednesday) that we needed to work on between these two sessions. That really picked up my car here at California. If we put all that together at all these mile-and-half or two-mile tracks, we should be pretty good.

Ryan Newman: Our Alltel Dodges are pretty decent. We’re trying to work with the balance and some stuff with this new car. They (Vegas and California) have a different feel. It’s (California) a different track with a different tire but we’re happy to be close to the top of the speed chart, for sure.

Mark Martin: These guys are bringing fast race cars to the track. I still feel like we have some to go but it’s very encouraging and so comfortable working with Tony Gibson and all these guys. We need to continue to make gains because everyone is making gains really quickly with this COT on really big race tracks.

Clint Bowyer: At Vegas, I was happy with the way we started. California is a different animal and we’ve been working on different things to get it to rotate in the center. The tire is quite a bit different and seems like it’s falling off quite a bit more. I’m happy. So far, so good. It’s been a long few days here and I’m just ready to get to racing.

Greg Biffle: The race tracks
(Vegas and California) are so different because there’s a lot more forces at Vegas – a lot more banking it seems like. Vegas is one of the flattest places we race at. Even Michigan has more banking or drives like it does. This place is definitely flat. We underestimated how much the car was going to travel because it was so flat we felt like we wanted to get it down on the track but when the corner came, it drug.

Dave Blaney Quotes:
Dillner: Is the momentum from last year going to carry over?
Dave Blaney: I don’t know. Our Cat team did get better last year but so did the Toyotas. I think all the Toyota teams have made a pretty good jump forward here but you need to come to these Vegas and California tests to see where you stack up with everybody. We’re not as good as we’d hope we’d be but we’re learning and I hope we can apply it all when we come back.

Dillner: What’s the difference between Vegas and California?

Blaney: Vegas is fast with a lot of speed and load in the corner. It’s slower at California but you still need motor and handling and aero at California. It’s the same as it’s been but you just have a little different animal to work with. But somebody’s got to win.

Dillner: The sun is setting here and that’s key because we have a nighttime practice session tonight at California. That’s important because both races at this track go into the nighttime and these teams are trying to dial in their cars. We know the pavement changes at night and the track will gain grip, giving the cars more of a tight-handling condition. A lot of these guys are going to be focusing on that tonight. What I’m hearing in the garage is some of these teams, after tonight or halfway through Friday’s session, are going to pack up and head home.
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