McMurray paces final Cup Series test at Lowe's

CONCORD, N.C. -- Nearly 50 Cup Series teams left Lowe's Motor Speedway on Tuesday with a better understanding of how to prepare their racecars for the May 17 Sprint All-Star Race and the May 25 Coca-Cola 600.

With several teams struggling to learn the handling nuances of the new car, the two days of testing gave crew chiefs and engineers ample opportunity to gather computer data and obtain driver feedback.

Jamie McMurray topped the speed chart on Tuesday with a lap of 185.720 mph in his No. 26 Ford. However, his lap was slower than the 186.245 mph mark Elliott Sadler put atop the scoring pylon Monday evening (read more).

Ryan Newman was second fastest Tuesday evening at 184.856 mph in his No. 12 Dodge.

"We spent our time trying a lot of different combinations on the Alltel Dodge to see what would work," Newman said. "This track changes so much throughout the course of the day and night that it can be a difficult track to keep up with. We are trying to use the fact that it changes so much to our advantage and learn as much as we can about adjusting the car.

"We've done really well in qualifying at Charlotte in the past, and we would like to continue that when we come back here. We focused on our qualifying trim some during the night session on Tuesday."

A.J. Allmendinger was third fastest at 184.571 with Scott Riggs fourth fastest at 184.168. Rookie Patrick Carpentier rounded out the top-five at 183.955.

"I applaud NASCAR for adding this test. These intermediate tracks make up a large portion of our schedule and unless you are a select number of teams, you could probably benefit from more track time," said 1995 Coca-Cola 600 winner Bobby Labonte. "There are so many things that we still need to learn about these cars. Sometimes NASCAR gets a bad rap about not listening to the teams and competitors. But this was a win for everyone.

"As far as how the car has been performing, I think it has done well. Goodyear brought a good tire. It's a little on the hard side, but that's OK. The surface is really coming in since it was paved a few years ago and I think we will see three good races here this year."

"We have been very pleased with how our No. 19 Dodge has been from the minute we unloaded," Sadler said, who topped the speed chart Monday night. "This is a brand-new car that we built for the 1.5-mile tracks and I can't even begin to tell you how much better it feels than before. At one point Monday night, I went out and laid down that fast lap and Rodney [Childers, team director] asked how I liked the changes. I just chuckled, that's all I said. He came back saying, 'you liked it that much, huh?'

"The racing hasn't been too great on the 1.5-mile tracks and we really needed some work as a team, too. I have to applaud NASCAR and 'Humpy' Wheeler for making this test possible. I just hope this all transfers into some great racing in the All-Star and Coca-Cola 600 races.

Reed Sorenson was pleased with the performance of his No. 41 Dodge.

"We weren't very good at Texas and Atlanta," Sorenson said. "We feel like we are a little better now, so we definitely found some stuff. We now have a much better car than we've had on the mile-and-a-half tracks earlier in the year."

There were six minor incidents during the 10 hours of testing. Allmendinger, Robby Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch each brushed the wall. All five cars received only minor damage and each driver was able to drive back to the garage area. Regan Smith was a double-dipper, making contact with the outside wall twice. He was able to drive into the garage following each fender-bender.

Preparations for the track's upcoming schedule of racing continues Monday and Tuesday as Nationwide Series teams test for the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 on May 24. On-track activity runs from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET each day with a dinner break from 5 to 6 p.m. As for all NASCAR testing sessions at Lowe's Motor Speedway, the frontstretch grandstand will be open free of charge.