Waltrip unstoppable in first week of testing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- No one could topple Michael Waltrip during the first week of testing during NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway.

The other half of the Nextel Cup field will get their chance next week. Waltrip, the defending Daytona 500 champion and a two-time winner, was the fastest in each of the six single-car test sessions this week, posting his fastest speed Thursday afternoon at 187.731 mph.

But he was also fastest Thursday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday morning. If there were cars on the track this week, Waltrip was the best.

	Nineteen drivers participated in the first round of testing. Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR

"We have had a terrific test, even though it got off to a rocky start when we crashed one of our cars, but it just shows you how prepared this team is," Waltrip said. "We'll practice more, which means we will practice more with the car we ran for three days and make it faster. We'll turn a negative into a positive by further researching this test with a follow-up in Talladega with this NAPA Chevy."

The single-car runs ended Thursday at 3 p.m., when NASCAR allowed the teams to draft around Daytona's high banks. Waltrip's Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was the fastest in that abbreviated session at 188.391 mph.

Next week, teams that finished in the even-numbered points positions will test. Among the drivers who will be here are Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman.

They'll have work to do to knock Waltrip off the top spot. But that's what got Waltrip there in the first place, his crew chief said Thursday.

ALSO  •  Test Speeds: Thursday afternoon  •  Test Speeds: Cumulative

"How you prepare yourself for that is by working really hard in the shop -- and not building a speedway car in three weeks," Labbe said. "It takes months, months and months of preparation."

Waltrip's team brought two cars to Daytona, but one was going home on the first day as an engine problem sent Waltrip into the wall. That car, by the way, took seven months to build, Labbe said.

The other car, the one that posted the fastest speed, took four months to get ready. That car won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in 2002 but hasn't raced since.

"You've got to spend an awful lot of time on these things and rub and rub and rub 'em," Labbe said. "It's nice to be on top of the board, but I hope people understand that it's because of a lot of hard work."

Another driver who was fast this week was Dale Jarrett, whose lap of 187.426 mph Thursday morning ended up being the second-quickest of the week. Being fast is fine, Jarrett said, but it doesn't mean everything.

"It doesn't hurt anything," Jarrett said. "It doesn't mean that much because you don't know what everybody has done. I can't say that we were full-blown qualifying attempts, but we were pretty close to that. What somebody else might be holding back, I don't know.

"We've learned a lot of things that are going to help Elliott and his team next week that hopefully will give them an opportunity to do some more things that we didn't get a chance to try."

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not far behind his teammate posting the fourth-fastest overall speed this week. Credit: AP

That's why it's called a test session. Some teams truly used it as such and weren't necessarily searching for tons of speed. One of those was Evernham Motorsports' No. 9 team with rookie driver Kasey Kahne. Kahne was only 14th fastest of the 17 teams, but Evernham's group was using this week as an informational session.

"I wouldn't say I didn't start off like I wanted to," Kahne said. "We weren't the fastest car, but we were learning stuff. I think the team has done a good job. We gained a half-second (Wednesday). By the time Speedweeks comes around, we'll have some good race cars."

Behind Waltrip and Jarrett was rookie Brendan Gaughan, driving Penske Racing's new No. 77 entry. Gaughan's best lap was 187.398, putting him just ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. (187.009). Fifth fastest was Kahne's teammate, Jeremy Mayfield, and rookie-of-the-year Jamie McMurray, both at 186.827.

Joe Nemechek was fast all week and ended up seventh at 186.753, with Jeff Green eighth at 186.699, Kevin Harvick ninth at 186.416 and Ricky Craven 10th at 186.166.

Drivers faced a hidden enemy most of the week: wind. The wind gusted up to 30 mph during some of the sessions, making it difficult to find speed.

"You can't judge the wind," Labbe said. "I know engineers are saying they can. Thursday morning, the conditions were perfect for two hours, and then here comes the wind. ... That's why this morning we got after it pretty hard because the conditions were good. We ran a bunch of laps this morning. Some of the stuff we did Tuesday and Wednesday was sitting in the garbage can today because it was pretty much a joke."

Jarrett said the wind had as much effect on cars as he's ever seen, with most of it on the nose of the cars.

"Times are so close that you're looking for every little bit of a second that you can get," Jarrett said. "You don't want to be fooled with that."

The wind calmed Thursday morning, making it a near-perfect time to find speed, and that's when most of the top speeds were recorded.

"It gave us a really good opportunity to make some qualifying attempts and see exactly what we had," Jarrett said. "We're pretty happy with our Ford."

Of course, the happiest of them all was a guy driving a Chevrolet.