Menard Fastest on Last Day of NASCAR Daytona Testing

In the afternoon drafting session, which was cut short at 2:00 PM due to rain showers, Paul Menard turned a lap of 187.099 mph.

Jeff Gordon posted the fastest speed with a lap of 184.596 in the morning session. Photo: www.daytona500.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - On Wednesday, the second wave of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams worked around the weather to wrap their three-day test.

Paul Menard, in the No. 15 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., posted the fastest time on Wednesday and for the entire test.

In the afternoon drafting session, which was cut short at 2:00 PM due to rain showers, Menard turned a lap of 187.099 mph.

In the morning session, with the exception of Kurt Busch's speed in the Car of Tomorrow, three-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon posted the fastest speed with a lap of 184.596.

Gordon, who won his first Daytona 500 in 1997, says there have been no surprises in this year's testing sessions at Daytona International Speedway.

"What you unload with, you can pick up a very small amount from the time you unload until the time you leave here," Gordon said. "You can play around with all these little things but it seems like nothing really is that big thing you are hoping to find. It's pretty standard. We had some cool things on our list to try -- some areo and some mechanical - to try to make the car just go through the corner better. A lot of it is just attitude of the car -- the aerodynamics - trying to figure out what gets that spoiler out of the air the most within the rules."

When combining all the speeds from both waves of Daytona 500 testing, Menard was the fastest followed by Kyle Busch (186.765), Jeff Green (186.722), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (186.606) and David Ragan (186.536).

All of those speeds were posted in drafting sessions.

Martin's New Look:

For the first time since the 1988 Daytona 500, Mark Martin won't be behind the wheel of a No. 6 Ford for Roush Racing.

Martin, winless in 22 Daytona 500 starts, is entering his first year with Ginn Racing as driver of the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet.

He will race in 23 events, including the Feb. 18th Daytona 500, while Regan Smith will compete in the remaining events.

Being behind the wheel of a Chevrolet was a slight adjustment for Martin but he is already comfortable with his new team.

"Just because I stayed with Jack Roush for 19 years, doesn't make it wrong for me to drive for someone else - it just makes it strange," Martin said.

"I'm actually already beyond that. To me and many of my fans, I'll always be No. 6 and a part of me will always be No. 6 but that's emotions and this is racing."

COT On Track:

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, and Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, hopped behind the wheel of Car of Tomorrow machines on Wednesday.

The Car of Tomorrow will make its debut at select NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races beginning this spring and is expected to race at Daytona International Speedway beginning with the 2008 Daytona 500.

Busch's top speed in the Car of Tomorrow in the morning session was a 191.188 mph.

Said Busch: "I thought it was great. We had to make sure of fender clearances and we just went for two laps at a time and it really shook out to be positive. We played with spoiler angles, or wing angles, and the different combinations with the plate with fuel and air mixtures. I thought the car could handle any speed it wanted to go. It gets back to a little bit of what they have with the truck series, big drag that slows the car down aerodynamically, but an open motor that has the horsepower like we're used to at all our tracks. It was real interesting to drive."

Next up:

The NASCAR Busch Series will pull into DIS beginning Friday for testing in preparation for the Feb. 17th Orbitz 300.

Among the drivers expected to participate in the first session on Friday, Saturday and Sunday include Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Jason Leffler and Marcus Ambrose.

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