Thursday observations from NASCAR Nextel Cup testing at Daytona International Speedway: Speeds from Daytona testing are reported because they're available and they're really the only actual hard facts that come out of this exercise. Wednesday's drafting practice closed out the first session, and some general conclusions can be drawn. The Dodges might not be great in qualifying here, but they're probably going to be OK for the race. It looks like Ford's new Fusion isn't going to have any major problem getting up to speed. Hendrick Motorsports engines, which powered Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Bill Elliott this week, are stout. If you're a Dale Earnhardt Inc. fan, here's a good sign: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. each took some laps in the other's car during Wednesday's practices. A year ago, after the ill-fated team swap drew dividing lines all through the DEI organization, that kind of co-operation can only be viewed as a positive sign. Jimmie Johnson made a good point this week, saying that after NASCAR changed the rules on rear shock absorbers after Johnson won at Dover during last year's Chase for the Nextel Cup, it canceled out a lot of work his team had done to make its cars go fast. Other teams, he pointed out, had done more work with shocks and springs on their front ends to help their cars get better. The question then becomes whether NASCAR might do something at some point this year to limit the tricks teams are doing on the front ends, and whether such a decision would tip the competitive balance some other way. This will be my 10th year covering NASCAR, and when people ask me why good race teams somehow suffer setbacks that don't always seem to make sense I've always had the same theory. I just could never put it as succinctly as Jeff Burton did Wednesday. "They were the pinnacle of the sport for a long time doing it a certain way," Burton said. "And in many ways, that can work against you. The hardest thing that we do once you've started having success is knowing when not to do it like that anymore." |
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