The temperature hovered near 90 degrees Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway, and there were plenty of drafts in the air.
But not the Atlantic Ocean variety.
Instead, it was drafting among NASCAR Nationwide Series new cars, the second day of a two-day test in preparation for its inaugural points race there on July 2 – the Subway Jalapeno 250 powered by Coca-Cola.
That event is the first of four points races for the new car in 2010. The others are at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 14, Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 10 and Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 15.
When teams return to Daytona in July, they’ll have a full day on track on Wednesday, June 30 prior to the first official practice on Thursday, July 1.
“This afternoon, most of the teams came out to do a large drafting run,” said Joe Balash, NASCAR Nationwide Series director. “We had most of the cars that were here go out and take turns leading the pack, running the inside lane and outside lane, trying to work their way up through the field.”
On Tuesday, teams spent most of the day in single-car runs, making adjustments to prepare for their first drafting opportunity late in the afternoon.
Some cars began Wednesday with single-car runs while others continued to draft. Following the lunch break, Balash and other NASCAR officials on site asked teams to be prepared to draft as a large pack for just over 15 minutes.
“I think we’ve got a lot of adjustments left in the car,” Balash said. “We had differing comments from the drivers as I walked through the garage and talked to them. To some drivers, the cars are loose and to some, they were tight during the drafting session.”
Carl Edwards (No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) had his first opportunity in the new car at Daytona on Wednesday and agreed with Balash, specific to further adjustments. “If we can get the cars tuned a little better, (get) the balance better and then maybe that practice day on Wednesday before we come and work on the cars a little more, hopefully they’ll be a little bit more predictable,” the 2007 series champion said.
Overall, Balash gave the test a positive review. “I think we’re headed in the right direction with everything we’ve had going on in the test session,” he said. “We’ll be ready when we get back down here in July.”
Reed Sorenson (No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota) posted the fastest lap of the two-day test in the Wednesday afternoon session with a time of 47.919 seconds/187.817 mph. Joey Logano (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) was the fastest in the morning drafting session with a lap of 48.328 seconds/186.227 mph, while Sorenson alsoturned the quickest single-car lap in that session at 49.846 seconds/180.556 mph.
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