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Wallace, Gordon end test season on topBy Shawn A. AkersNASCAR Online DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 1999) With each passing year, Rusty Wallace is gaining more and more confidence on the superspeedways, and in restrictor-plate races. And the fact that he was the fastest all month during testing for all manufacturer's makes for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway makes Wallace even more confident that he can win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series opener on Feb. 14. Historically, Wallace's results have been less than desirable at the 2.5-mile trioval. Last year, however, he finished fifth in both the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400 in October. "I think the way the test results were as far as Daytona goes and the way our record was last year at the speedway races, I feel we're way ahead of where we were last year and definitely way ahead of where we finished at Atlanta," said the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. "We went to Daytona, and somebody is always going to run a little better than the other when you've got a two-car team. (Teammate) Jeremy's (Mayfield) car runs a lot better than mine sometimes and sometimes mine runs better. This time at Daytona we had a good car. We hope to go to Daytona (for the 500) with two cars that are identical, that should come off the truck and run the same speed. Right now our speeds are better than they were, so we feel like we're just better. "Again, I'm not going to make any predictions. I've learned not to do that and I'm just going to say that I feel real prepared. I'm real proud of (crew chief) Robin (Pemberton) and his entire team." Wallace was fastest in month-long testing with a best lap of 193.129 mph around DIS. He also had the sixth-fastest time in another car, with a lap of 191.984 mph. Three-time and defending series champion Jeff Gordon and his band of "Rainbow Warriors" weren't that far off of Wallace's speeds, and figure to be another team to beat at Daytona next month. The 1997 Daytona 500 winner cruised the 2.5-mile trioval in a best lap of 192.452 mph during recent GM team testing. Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Refinishes Chevrolet, will be looking to win his first Daytona 500 Bud Pole and only his second Bud Pole at DIS overall (he won the Bud Pole for the 1996 Pepsi 400). "When we saw those numbers (from the Ford test session), we were pretty shocked," Gordon said. "Again, if they can get down here and put NASCAR's restrictor plate on and go through inspection before you go out there, things change a little bit. If they can run those numbers out there then, they can have the pole. "We don't come here necessarily to win the pole. We try to go as fast as we can and get in the top-five or top-10. We come here to win the Daytona 500. We've proven several times the fastest car in qualifying doesn't win the race or mean you're going to have the best car when it comes to racing." Kyle Petty, who won the Bud Pole for the 1993 Daytona 500, posted the third-fastest speed in January testing at Daytona, turning in a fast lap of 192.341 mph in his No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac. Petty finished 30th in the standings last season and is looking for redemption in 1999. Dale Jarrett was fourth-fastest in January testing at Daytona (192.139 mph), followed by Jerry Nadeau (192.082) and Wallace's second car, all Fords. Wally Dallenbach, in a Chevrolet, was seventh (191.636), followed by Ward Burton in a Pontiac (191.595) and Terry Labonte (191.465) and Mike Skinner (191.343) in Chevrolets. Mark Martin, who is also looking for his first Daytona 500 victory, was a disappointing 18th-fastest with a lap of 190.759 mph. Bobby Labonte, the 1998 Bud Pole winner for the Daytona 500, was 33rd in his Interstate Batteries Pontiac with a fast lap of 190.062 mph. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 13, 1999) Notes and quotes from Ford Motor Company's final pre-season NASCAR Winston Cup Series test session Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway: ROBERT PRESSLEY Jasper Engines Ford driver Robert Pressley said he has nothing solid going in terms of a part-time ride in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series or the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division for 1999. He had an eighth-best 190.577 mph lap on Wednesday in his NWC ride. "I don't know where all that got started," said Pressley of published rumors he'd have a truck ride in 1999. "I'm looking at some options on some trucks, but I haven't done anything yet. I'm just really wanting to run a little bit of Busch and a little bit of trucks but right now nothing's definite." Pressley drove 18 races in the NBS in 1998 for ST Motorsports in the No. 59 Kingsford/Matchlight Chevrolet. Mike Dillon will drive that car in 1999. Kenny Irwin comes into 1999 expecting bigger and better things following his Raybestos Rookie of the Year campaign in 1998. He said he expects to win his first NASCAR Winston Cup race this year. "That's what we're planning on," said Irwin. "I'm a lot more prepared for everything because I know what's coming. Or you like to think you know what's coming. I think I'm coming into it with just a different attitude -- more confidence. And that's just because I've been here now and just know what to expect and I'm looking forward to it." Irwin was disappointed in his testing efforts through the first day and a half of the final Ford Manufacturer's NASCAR Winston Cup test at Daytona, even though his No. 28A Texaco Havoline Taurus was seventh fastest out of 42 cars on Tuesday. "We're kind of not where we want to be," said Irwin, who topped-out at 191.15 mph -- fourth-quickest of the winter so far with one two-day GM test remaining. "We came down with a car that we thought was going to be our Daytona car, our 500 car I should say, and it's kind of turned out where it's not. And now we're just trying to figure out what our best car is -- if it's still at the shop or if it's going to be the backup car." Ricky Rudd had a rough day in testing Tuesday, with his two cars 37th and 38th fastest of the 42 cars on hand, and he said the No. 10 Tide Taurus team would not likely accomplish its goals in the two-day test. Rudd improved his speed to 187.586 mph Wednesday, but was oly 28th-quickest of the 35 cars that ran. "We worked on chassis yesterday and today," said Rudd. "We realized we had 'aero' problems yesterday. Went back to the hotel last night, re-grouped, and I think they already picked the cars up over a half second just in some aero changes. "A two-day test is kind of tight. Three days would be nice. Two days is just such an accelerated program that I already see that we're probably not going to get done what we need to get done here. We'll probably have to go to Talladega again. Aero is really where it's at right now. But you've also gotta get the car to ride low on the race track. So we worked on that yesterday and worked on aero today." JERRY NADEAU Jerry Nadeau was the surprise of Tuesday's session, with the second- and eighth-fastest cars in the garage. Wednesday he said hard work was the secret to the Melling Racing team's success. "We unloaded yesterday really, really fast and we got both cars underneath a 47.50, so today we're basically just working on our primary car, trying different techniques, heights, manifolds and the motor guys are trying a lot of stuff with Pro Motors," said Nadeau, who ended the session as only the third man over 192 mph this winter at Daytona at 192.082 mph in the No. 9 Cartoon Network Ford. "We're just trying to tweak and turn and make sure when we come back here in February we're going to be running up front. "Anybody could do what I did yesterday," he said. "I'm just turning the wheel. These guys, I tell you, the whole Melling group has really, really worked hard ever since Atlanta (in November). And it shows. I've been there every day with the guys. We barely took any time off, and we built two great superspeedway cars, we've still got a great backup car back at home in Charlotte. Everybody's really pumped up. We've got a brand new shop. We've got new sponsors this year -- WCW and TBS along with Cartoon Network, and the guys are just tickled to death to get things going." Nadeau said the early-season order of paint schemes is pretty much set. "The Cartoon Network's going to be in Daytona and the first few races," he said. "Then we've got the Atlanta Braves that's going to be at the Atlanta race. Out in the Las Vegas race we're going to debut the WCW car, so we've got a lot of neat things going on this year. I think we've got about four or five paint schemes all year long, and I'm sure that we'll have a lot of collectibles that are going to be selling a lot this year. We've got the Dexters cartoon and the Jetsons. So any of you Jetson fans or Dexter fans make sure you come out and watch us." In a brand switch, Midwest Transit Chevrolet driver Dan Pardus, the Daytona Beach resident who will make a run for Raybestos Brakes Rookie of the Year, stood-in for CSG Racing driver and friend Mark Gibson, who was unable to test on Tuesday due to an episode of kidney stones. Gibson recovered well enough to drive on Wednesday, in the team's third test session of the winter at Daytona -- after it ran with the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series cars in December and earlier this month at the first Ford test. |
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