For the second straight day, snow stalled a testing session at Talladega Superspeedway as temperatures continued to hover in the mid-30s in northeast Alabama. Early Thursday morning, a small storm front brought a light coating of snow and ice across central Alabama, leaving a light blanket of the white stuff on the ground most of the day. A General Motors test session for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series scheduled for Thursday and Friday was stalled for the most of the first day. Even though the NCTS doesnt compete at Alabamas famed 2.66-mile tri-oval, teams use the wide track to test for the circuits season-opening race in Daytona in February. Eight teams were scheduled to take part in the two-day test, but only half were on the track by 1:30pm on Thursday after the snow and ice melted and the track had time to dry. Some of the drivers scheduled to take part in the test session didnt arrive until late Thursday afternoon due to the wintery conditions in Charlotte, N.C. Normally a five-and-a-half hour drive from Charlotte, it took some of the teams haulers 12 hours to drive to Talladega due to icy roads and wrecks along the interstates. The weather for Friday is predicted to be drier in Talladega, but still with temperatures in the 30s and low 40s. The first test of 2002 on Wednesday was cut short due to a light snow that fell on the track in the early afternoon. Team’s present are #46-Dennis Setzer; #28-Ken Allen; #20-Coy Gibbs; #16-Mike Bliss; #75-David Starr; #52-Mike Wallace; #08-Bobby Dotter and #?-Jason Small with Green Light Racing.(Talladega Superspeedway PR)(1-4-2002)
