Busch leads Saturday's lone practice at Dover

DOVER, Del. -- Kurt Busch ran 62 laps Saturday in a wild but cool NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Happy Hour at Dover International Speedway and was the fastest of 43 cars that practiced for the MBNA 400 "A Salute To Heroes."

The two scheduled 45-minute sessions were combined into a single one-hour practice that began at 11:30 a.m. due to rain.

Busch's best lap in the mid-50s temperatures came in his seventh tour of the one-mile high-banked concrete oval when he was clocked in 23.155 seconds, an average speed of 155.474 mph in his No. 97 Sharpie Ford.

	Jeremy Mayfield was second in Saturday's practice session. Credit: Autostock

The biggest concern now for Busch, his crew chief Jimmy Fennig and the rest of the field is Sunday's conditions, which stand to be at least 15 degrees warmer.

"Yeah, but you know that going in so you can work in that direction," Fennig said. "We know it's going to be at least 10 degrees warmer and the sun's going to be peeking out. We know what the racetrack's probably going to start out being and we'll just work off of that."

Bud Pole winner Jeremy Mayfield put his No. 19 Dodge second on the Happy Hour time sheet with the sixth of 70 laps, in 155.186 mph.

Casey Mears brought out the first of three cautions when he brushed the wall in his No. 41 Dodge, but set the third best time on his 10th lap, in 155.179 mph. He ended up running 40 laps in all and said he still had a great racecar.

"I think we've still got a top-five car, and we're just so enthused about that," Mears said. "We started this season hoping to consistently be a top-15 or top-20 car, but we've improved our performance consistently to where now we're a top-10 car.

VIDEO CLIPS Jeremy Mayfield breaks the track record at Dover Play video Waltrip and Biffle go to back-up cars after qualifying wrecks Play video

"Actually today when we started we were really, really tight and that's why I ended up brushing the wall when it was a lot tighter than I expected and I got up a little high."

Mears' crew chief Jimmy Elledge went to work and was successful.

"Jimmy got real aggressive and changed a set of front shocks and the right front A-frame and it softened the front springs up quite a bit," Mears said. "The thing just started turning unreal and it's by far the best car I've ever had here at Dover."

Mears agreed that handling Sunday's conditions would be critical.

"This place just always gets real tight, and the hotter it gets the more grip that you lose," Mears said. "But it's not as bad on a cement track as it is on an asphalt track."

Defending MBNA 400 winner Ryan Newman, who actually is seeking to become the fourth driver to win three consecutive Dover races, joining David Pearson, Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon, ran 54 laps and put his No. 12 Dodge 11th on the sheet, in 153.728 mph.

MBNA 400  •  Lineup  •  Happy Hour Speeds  •  1st Practice Speeds  •  Complete Race Coverage  •  Friday's Photo Gallery

Two of the three cautions were for wall contact, but the longest delay occurred after Stanton Barrett broke the engine in his No. 94 Husqvarna Chevrolet, shutting down the track for about seven minutes.

The session resumed with 19 minutes left, but ended a couple minutes early after Morgan Shepherd pancaked the right side of his No. 89 Red Line Oil Dodge against the outside wall.

Both Barrett, who qualified a career-best 20th and Shepherd, who was scheduled to start 42nd will drop to the rear of the field.

Barrett's team borrowed an engine from Morgan-McClure Motorsports owner Larry McClure, a NASCAR official said; and Shepherd said that he also had a short-term solution.

"We've rented a car from Don Arnold," Shepherd said of the team that's fielding Mike Wallace in a No. 50 GEICO Dodge. "Our car can be fixed, but we can't do the repairs here."