Thursday was a productive day for the first NASCAR Sprint Cup test of the newly repaved Daytona International Speedway.
With the bumps, dips, and potholes gone the venerable 2.5 mile high banked superspeedway promised intense racing in 2011.
Fastest of the day was Martin Truex Jr. in the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota who predicted that the season opener, the Daytona 500, “it's going to be wild. It's going to be fun. I love racing here. Here and Talladega (Superspeedway) are some of the (most fun) races for us as drivers until you get in a wreck, and then you're just p… off, and you're p… off until you come back and hoping to finish the next one.”
Speedway officials haven’t, and may not paint lane lines. So drivers’ confidence of the higher grip level may have caused Truex to add “everybody has a chance to win these things. It's like gambling, really. It's just a lot of fun to do it until you lose.”
There’s a new look to the Sprint Cup Cars, a redesigned splitter (lower front wing) which is aesthetically more pleasing due to the removal of the splitter braces. Another change engines will be running on a new Sunoco Green E15 fuel this year.
“The sport is so competitive that it's not just about seeing how fast your car is now,” said two time Cup Champion and team co-owner Tony Stewart.
“It's trying to figure out the strategies and techniques we have to use as drivers with the bump drafting and playing the chess game to figure out where you've got to be at the right time.”
Speaking of new looks Kurt Busch’s familiar Blue Deuce went to Brad Keselowski so the past Cup Champ is now in new sponsor Shell Pennzoil yellow.
“You want to try to improve on your fuel mileage because I think you're going to see a lot of fuel-only-type pit stops,” said Kurt Busch.
“So you just have to try to bank as many thoughts as you can in your mind about how you're going to react and apply those.”
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| Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR |
With the bumps, dips, and potholes gone the venerable 2.5 mile high banked superspeedway promised intense racing in 2011.
Fastest of the day was Martin Truex Jr. in the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota who predicted that the season opener, the Daytona 500, “it's going to be wild. It's going to be fun. I love racing here. Here and Talladega (Superspeedway) are some of the (most fun) races for us as drivers until you get in a wreck, and then you're just p… off, and you're p… off until you come back and hoping to finish the next one.”
Speedway officials haven’t, and may not paint lane lines. So drivers’ confidence of the higher grip level may have caused Truex to add “everybody has a chance to win these things. It's like gambling, really. It's just a lot of fun to do it until you lose.”
There’s a new look to the Sprint Cup Cars, a redesigned splitter (lower front wing) which is aesthetically more pleasing due to the removal of the splitter braces. Another change engines will be running on a new Sunoco Green E15 fuel this year.
“The sport is so competitive that it's not just about seeing how fast your car is now,” said two time Cup Champion and team co-owner Tony Stewart.
“It's trying to figure out the strategies and techniques we have to use as drivers with the bump drafting and playing the chess game to figure out where you've got to be at the right time.”
Speaking of new looks Kurt Busch’s familiar Blue Deuce went to Brad Keselowski so the past Cup Champ is now in new sponsor Shell Pennzoil yellow.
“You want to try to improve on your fuel mileage because I think you're going to see a lot of fuel-only-type pit stops,” said Kurt Busch.
“So you just have to try to bank as many thoughts as you can in your mind about how you're going to react and apply those.”
 |
| Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR |