Kenseth, Kahne Fastest in Day One of NASCAR Busch Series Testing at LVMS

Three cars hit the wall during testing Monday: Dave Blaney, Kurt Busch and Todd Kluever.

Dodge driver Kasey Kahne turned in the fastest lap during the afternoon session of NASCAR Busch Series testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

LAS VEGAS - Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne turned in the fastest lap during the afternoon session of NASCAR Busch Series testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - 29.939 sec./180.367 mph - but it was not the fastest lap of the day.

Morning session leader Matt Kenseth still leads all others with his lap of 29.803 sec./181.90 mph, set before lunchtime.

Brad Coleman is the new NASCAR Busch Series driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 18 Carino's Italian Grill Chevrolet.

Young Coleman earned the 2005 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series rookie-of-the-year title and graduated to the ARCA ranks in 2006 before landing a 17-race deal with Gibbs.

Monday marked his first-ever visit to LVMS and he shared his observations while catching his breath during a hectic afternoon.

"This is my first time at Las Vegas ever," said Coleman. "There's a lot of banking and it's really fast. I am actually having a blast. Unfortunately, our motor blew the first time we went out, so we only did three laps (in the morning session). This is my first time in (at 4:50 p.m.) since this morning. I am running as much as I can and it's really fun here. The car was a little twitchy over the bumps in (Turns 1 and 2), but we got it figured out and it's handling really nice."

Reed Sorenson participated in last week's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series test at LVMS and came back for more Monday, this time aboard his Busch Series No. 41 Wrigley's Dodge.

"It's going well. We just got the second car out this afternoon and we're about 14th. The new track is a lot faster. It's a lot faster with the new asphalt and it looks like the second groove is coming in, so it should be alright. I think it'll be good racing (in March)."

Three cars hit the wall during testing Monday: Dave Blaney, Kurt Busch and Todd Kluever.

NASCAR Busch Series Preseason Thunder Las Vegas continues -and concludes - tomorrow.

So far, 45 drivers and 63 cars have participated in the test session.

Monday afternoon session top 10:

1. Kasey Kahne (Dodge) 29.939 sec./180.367 mph.

2. David Stremme (Dodge) 30.081 sec./179.515 mph.

3. Denny Hamlin (Chevrolet) 30.137 sec./179.182 mph.

4. Carl Edwards (Ford) 30.141 sec./179.158 mph.

5. Clint Bowyer (Chevrolet) 30.150 sec./179.104 mph.

6. Greg Biffle (Ford) 30.210 sec./178.749 mph.

7. Matt Kenseth (Ford) 30.242 sec./178.560 mph.

8. Bobby Labonte (Chevrolet) 30.277 sec./178.353 mph.

9. Kyle Busch (Chevrolet) 30.371 sec./177.801 mph.

10. Jason Leffler (Toyota) 30.372 sec./177.795 mph.

Monday morning session top 10:

1. Matt Kenseth (Ford) 29.803 sec./181.90 mph.

2. Kasey Kahne (Dodge) 29.847 sec./180.923 mph.

3. Clint Bowyer (Chevrolet) 29.942 sec./180.349 mph.

4. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 29.955 sec./180.270 mph.

5. Carl Edwards (Ford) 29.960 sec./180.240 mph.

6. Matt Kenseth (No. 17 B Ford) 30.001 sec./179.994 mph.

7. Carl Edwards (No. 60B Ford) 30.022 sec./179.868 mph.

8. Dave Blaney (Toyota) 30.030 sec./179.820 mph.

9. Greg Biffle (Ford) 30.039 sec./179.766 mph.

10. David Stremme (Dodge) 30.086 sec./179.485 mph.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports