More than a dozen NASCAR Busch Series teams, including those fielding cars for NEXTEL Cup title contenders Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are scheduled to test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Sept. 27, and Wednesday, Sept. 28 in preparation for the Dollar General 300 on Friday night, Oct. 14. Cars/drivers are scheduled to be on the track 3:00pm to 6:00pm & 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Drivers scheduled:
Tuesday, Sept 27: #0-Kertus Davis; #00-Mike Bliss; #4-Kevin Hamlin; #5-Adrian Fernandez; #6-Erin Crocker; #10-Brent Sherman; #17-Matt Kenseth; #19-Tony Stewart; #21-Brandon Miller; #23-Mark Green; #25-Ashton Lewis Jr.; #35-Jason Keller; #43-Aaron Fike; #47-Jon Wood; #48-Jimmie Johnson; #57-Kyle Busch; #64-Jamie McMurray; #79-Jeremy Mayfield.
Wednesday, Sept 28: all the above but #47-Wood and add #39-Ryan Newman.
Fans can attend both of the NASCAR Busch Series testing sessions free of charge. Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s frontstretch grandstand will be open both days and fans should enter through Gate 5A, located next to the main ticket office.
Testing Tuesday: Race teams continued to assemble the pieces of the puzzle that is Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s levigated racing surface Tuesday night and by the end of the NASCAR Busch Series testing session the pieces were falling into place to form a clear picture. #48-Jimmie Johnson’s fastest lap on the unofficial stopwatches was 28.906 seconds, 186.812 mph, which is just a tick slower than Tony Stewart’s fastest lap last week during NASCAR NEXTEL Cup testing. “I definitely think the track’s better,” said Stewart who was testing the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. “‘They drug some tires around here which is something we mentioned last week. There’s not really much they can do, but what they did do seemed to help quite a bit. We all give ‘Humpy’ a hard time for changing the track because we all liked it the way it was, but since he learned there is a problem he hasn’t stopped trying to make it better so we can at least go out there and do our job.”
“Race tracks have personalities,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “And this track certainly got a new one in May when we ended up with 22 caution flags during the Coca-Cola 600. “But we’ve done a lot of things to the track since then. We’velevigated the front straightaway to smooth it out and we did some work in Turn 2,” Wheeler continued. “I think what happened last week during the NEXTEL Cup test was that there wasn’t enough rubber on the race track. Two drivers crashed during the six-hour session but the track surface was not a factor in either, and both were able to drive their cars back to the garage area. Early in the session, rookie Adrian Fernandez backed the #5 Lowe’s Chevrolet into the Turn 2 wall. “All of a sudden it just snapped around,” said the Mexico City native. “I was taking my time and not pushing it at all. It really took me by surprise. I don’t know what happened.” Late in the evening, a flat right-front tire sent Jeremy Mayfield’s #79 Dodge into the outside wall.
NASCAR Busch Series testing for the Oct. 14 Dollar General 300 continues Wednesday evening. Cars will be on the track from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Tuesday’s top-10 unofficial speeds:
#48-Jimmie Johnson 186.812
#57-Kyle Busch 185.573
#79-Jeremy Mayfield 184.313
#64-Jamie McMurray 183.817
#47-Jon Wood 183.655
#19-Tony Stewart 183.511
#35-Jason Keller 181.421
#25-Ashton Lewis Jr., 181.105
#10-Brent Sherman 180.542
#33-Tony Raines 179.253.(LMS PR)(9-22/28-2005)
UPDATE – Wednesday Speeds:
#39-Ryan Newman shot to the top of the speed chart Wednesday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as 11 Busch Series teams made final preparations for the Dollar General 300 on Friday night, Oct. 14. Newman, who has won four consecutive NASCAR Busch Series races, established the #39 Alltel Dodge as the car to beat in the only remaining nighttime race on the Busch Series schedule. He was caught on the unofficial stopwatches with a best lap of 28.903 seconds for an average speed of 186.832 mph around the 1.5-mile track. Kyle Busch was second fastest at 186.367 mph but his best lap came just before he backed the #57 Lowe’s Chevrolet into the Turn 4 wall. Third quickest was NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point leader Jimmie Johnson at 186.001 mph in the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. Like Newman, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup title contender Matt Kenseth opted to participate in only the final day of the two-day session and was quickly up to speed in the #17 Waste Management Ford. He was fourth fastest at 185.599 mph. #5-Adrian Fernandez, who crashed hard on Tuesday, rebounded in a second #5 Lowe’s Chevrolet and posted the fifth-fastest lap at 184.036 mph. In addition to Busch’s wreck, Brent Sherman and Robby Gordon also hit the wall. Sherman slapped the Turn 2 SAFER barrier early in the session but was able to return later in the same car. Gordon smacked the outside wall just after 5 p.m. He drove back to the garage but he was finished for the evening.
Showing driver, car number and speed:
#39-Ryan Newman 186.832
#57-Kyle Busch 186.367
#48-Jimmie Johnson 186.001
#17-Matt Kenseth 185.599
#5-Adrian Fernandez 184.036
#10-Brent Sherman 182.654
#35-Jason Keller 181.928
#55-Robby Gordon 180.234
#0-Kertus Davis 180.216
#43-Aaron Fike 180.174.(LMS)(9-29-2005)
