Paul Menard had a strong testing session for DEI's Busch program. Credit: Don Bok/Motorsports Images and Archives

Busch, Menard cut short successful Busch tests

Kyle leaves Daytona for Denver to root on Broncos in AFC title tilt

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The teams of Busch Series regulars Kyle Busch and Paul Menard were among the most consistent of the 46 outfits present at Daytona International Speedway for the final test of Preseason Thunder.

Their reward for placing their respective Chevrolets in the top 10 of every one of the first six sessions was putting the cars into the haulers Saturday evening and saying farewell to Daytona for several weeks.

Kyle Busch and Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith have become friends. Credit: Autostock

BUCKIN' FOR BRONCOS Kyle Busch, a Las Vegas native, has been a Denver Broncos fan since childhood when he met NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway at one of the car dealerships Elway owns in Busch's hometown.  "Around Vegas, most everyone I knew was an Oakland Raiders fan or a Dallas Cowboys fan, but after meeting Elway I was all about the Broncos," Busch said. "I had a couple of Denver shirts and hats that I wore sometimes ... usually I was wearing shirts with something about racing on them.  "But I would break out the Broncos gear, too."  Busch finally attended his first NFL game last fall, when he traveled to Mile High Stadium with some members of his Nextel Cup team to see the Broncos take on the Kansas City Chiefs. After the game, Busch and his crew stopped by a local restaurant. While waiting for his food, Busch saw some familiar faces walk into the restaurant.   "Rod Smith [Broncos Pro-Bowl wide receiver] and Shannon Sharpe [retired Broncos tight end] walked in, and everybody in the place was going crazy," Busch said. "I had a football with me that I wanted to get signed, but I've been on the other side of the situation where people want you to sign while you're trying to eat, so I felt a little weird about asking."   After the crowd around Smith and Sharpe's table died down, Busch eventually walked over and introduced himself. Not only did he come back to North Carolina with a signed football, he also made a new friend.  "Rod and I have stayed in touch," Busch said. "I'll call and congratulate him when he has a good game and he does the same when I have a good race. He's the one that hooked me up with the tickets for this weekend, and we're going to try and meet up after the game.  "Hopefully, we'll be celebrating a trip to the Super Bowl."

Busch's best Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, carrying No. 5a, was third in both of Saturday's single-car sessions and it was fastest in Saturday morning's drafting practice, with a lap in 48.153 seconds, an average speed of 186.904 mph.

By executing their test plan nearly to perfection, Busch bought his crew some time and himself a bonus.

"If all goes well, I hope to be sitting in Mile High Stadium [now INVESCO Field at Mile High] Sunday afternoon, watching the Broncos beat the Steelers," Busch said of the AFC Championship Game.

Busch planned to head back to Charlotte with his team Saturday night, then fly to Denver on Sunday morning. Barring any delays, Busch should be sitting in his seat in time for kickoff at 3 p.m. ET.

It would be the perfect reward for two consecutive tests -- both Nextel Cup and Busch Series -- in which Busch was among the fastest, and most consistent.

"It definitely was," Busch said of his satisfaction. "To be down here for a week and away from home, it's kind of difficult, but leaving here as happy as I am it makes things a lot easier.

"To have a great Cup car -- the Kellogg's Chevrolet is awesome -- and to have a Lowe's Monte Carlo [on Saturday] that was awesome, as well ... means we have a pretty good shot to do well during Speedweeks. It's just going to be a case of getting people to hang with me and not leave me [in the draft]."

For his part, Menard used both No. 11 Dale Earnhardt Incorporated Chevys he had at the track Saturday to make a mark. His No. 11b was fifth and eighth in the two single-car sessions, while he was third and sixth in the draft, one with each of the cars -- making him a perfect 7-for-7 in the top 10.

Menard planned to accompany his father, John Menard, on a business trip to England on Sunday, a DEI team representative said.

Overall, several trends established Friday in the opening of the three-day test continued Saturday. Johnny Sauter was fastest in both of the day's single-car sessions in his No. 00m Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet.

Sauter's best lap in the morning was in 49.228 seconds, 182.823 mph. He improved that to 49.049 / 183.490 -- the second-best of the test -- Saturday afternoon.

Rounding out the top five speeds in the morning session were Kerry Earnhardt (181.870 mph) in the same No. 8a DEI Chevrolet that was second Friday morning driven by his younger half-brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Busch (181.525), Justin Ashburn, who continues to impress in the No. 05b Day Racing Enterprises Chevy (181.455) and Menard (181.185).

The fastest Dodge in the session was second-year driver Reed Sorenson's No. 41t Ganassi Racing Charger (181.127), which was sixth, and the fastest Ford was Roush Racing rookie Danny O'Quinn Jr.'s No. 50 Fusion (180.756).

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Behind Sauter on the Saturday afternoon single-car chart again was Kerry Earnhardt in the No. 8a (182.349 mph), Busch (182.142), Aric Almirola in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy (182.087) and Jason Leffler in the No. 32a Braun Racing Chevrolet (181.638).

The fastest Ford in the afternoon was Robert Yates Racing's stand-in for Elliott Sadler, Mike Wallace, in the No. 90 Fusion (181.335) in seventh, and the fastest Dodge was Sorenson's in 10th (181.094).

Behind Busch on the morning drafting chart were Justin Labonte, who's standing in for Brian Vickers in the No. 57 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (186.796 mph), Menard (186.289), Leffler (185.874) and Carl Edwards in the No. 60b Roush Racing Ford (185.782).

The fastest Dodge was Larry Foyt in the No. 9a Evernham Motorsports Charger, in 10th (184.756).

Denny Hamlin stepped up in the final, three-hour drafting session of the day to post the best lap of the test so far, 48.025 / 187.402 in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet.

Rounding out the top five speeds in that session were Sauter (186.494), Labonte (186.339), Jon Wood in the No. 47 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford (186.258) and Ashton Lewis Jr. in the No. 25 Team Rensi Motorsports Ford (186.197).

Steadman Marlin stepped up as the fastest Dodge with a lap in 186.174 mph, seventh best, in the No. 95 Sadler Racing Charger.

Earnhardt Jr. arrived at the track in mid-afternoon and while he left testing of his No. 8 cars to his brother, he did take a set of laps in the No. 88 he owns. JR Motorsports crew chief Rich Hubbs said Earnhardt and his driver, rookie Mark McFarland, turned "similar" lap times.

Busch, the 2005 Nextel Cup rookie of the year, placed such an exclamation point on his test that, whenever he ran two cars in the first six sessions, the slower of the two was only out of the top 20 once, when it was 24th, out of as many as 59 cars that ran in a session.

The test is scheduled to close Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. ET. A section of the Oldfield Grandstand will be open at no charge with access through the lobby of Daytona USA.

Saturday afternoon drafting session

Saturday morning drafting session

Saturday morning session

• Complete weekend Busch speeds