Cup drivers dominate Day 1 of Busch testing

There is something to experience -- at least one could believe that after the first day of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Nextel Cup drivers ran on the newly configured LVMS track last week, and a look at the leaderboard shows experience paid off as they dominated Day 1 in this round of Busch testing.

In the morning session, 18 of the top 19 laps were turned by Cup drivers who tested in their cars a week ago. The one exception being Scott Wimmer, but he was in Las Vegas spotting for teammate Kevin Harvick.

Five drivers completed the new, speedier track at speeds higher than 180 mph, led by Matt Kenseth who set the bar in his No. 17 Ford at 181.190 mph.

Kasey Kahne was second-fastest with a speed of 180.923 in his No. 9 Dodge.

A pair of Chevys finished 3-4 with Clint Bowyer posting a speed of 180.349 and defending Busch Series champion Harvick finishing his lap at 180.270.

Carl Edwards in his No. 60 Ford rounded out the top five with a speed of 180.240.

The fastest Toyota of the test belonged to Dave Blaney, who posted a speed of 179.820, eighth-fastest on the day.

Kahne came back in the evening session to clock the fastest lap at 180.367 -- the only driver during the afternoon to eclipse the 180 mph mark -- as Cup drivers had the top nine speeds. David Stremme was second (179.515) to give Dodge the two fastest laps of the session.

Denny Hamlin had the fastest Chevrolet in the afternoon (179.182), while Edwards was the fastest Ford (179.158) to take positions 3-4.

Jason Leffler had Toyota's fastest lap in the afternoon at 177.795, good enough for 10th.