Juan Montoya's lap of 184.574 was fastest at Tuesday morning's session. Credit: Autostock

Montoya, Newman lead stellar test for Dodge

Kurt Busch blows engine in afternoon session of testing

Speeds picked up dramatically in the afternoon session of the Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona. One consistancy, Dodge cemented itself at the top of the leaderboard.

Juan Montoya, in the No. 42 Dodge, led the Tuesday morning session with a speed of 184.574 mph. He was followed by Chip Ganassi Racing teammate David Stremme who posted a lap of 184.479.

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Ryan Newman's No. 12 Dodge set the mark in the afternoon at 186.540, a full 2 mph more than Montoya's top morning speed.

Where no one cracked the 185 mph mark in the Tuesday morning session, 22 drivers were able to in the afternoon thanks to this practice designed as a drafting test.

David Ragan in the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford was second on Tuesday afternoon with a speed of 186.536.

Kurt Busch had the third-quickest lap at 186.501 and was only a few minutes away from calling it a day Tuesday when the engine blew in his No. 2B car late in the afternoon session.

"It just went. There was no indication," Busch said. "I had to stay in it and try to get out of Montoya's and Newman's way. We had a couple of Dodges right behind us, so I brought it to the apron and shut it off -- but it went big when it went."

Jeff Gordon had the fastest Chevrolet finishing fourth in both testing sessions, posting speeds of 184.309 in the morning and 186.463 in the afternoon.

Toyota's top lap in the afternoon came from the No. 00 of David Reuitmann. He finished seventh with a speed of 186.397.