It should of course be kept in mind that the following discusses one practice sesson for the Daytona 500, but glancing at first practice speeds before Daytona 500 qualifying, some quick thoughts -
1 - Talk about quick turnarounds. In 2005 RCR Enterprises Chevrolets were so down on power that they rented a couple of Hendrick Motorsports engines to test at Daytona. RCR later hired some personnel from Cosworth Engineering and it's showing up in Kevin Harvick's strong first practice run. Harvick's #29 led the first practice, while teammate Jeff Burton's #31 practiced 11th and rookie Clint Bowyer in the #07 clocked 16th.
The other quick turnaround were Petty Enterprises Dodges, as #45 Kyle Petty hit third and #43 Bobby Labonte hit ninth in the first practice. The key to watch with the Petty organization is that in Bobby Labonte they now have a driver whose temperment and driving style mesh with Kyle's. Petty Enterprises may also be in a much better position within Dodge's engineering totem pole given Toyota's pending arrival and related uncertainty about some other Dodge organizations.
2 - To no one's surprise the Hendrick Motorsports empire is all over strong practice speeds. #24 Jeff Gordon, the defending 500 champ, hit second; #48 Jimmie Johnson, perhaps smarting from Greg Biffle's preseason trash talking, hit fifth; #5 Kyle Busch hit a respectable 17th and #25 Brian Vickers overcame a blown engine in pre-Shootout practice and hit 23rd for 500 practice.
The Hendrick satellite teams also timed pretty well in the first practice. Morton-Bowers Motorsports, running Hendrick-built cars and engines, has three cars for the 500. #36 Bill Elliott hit seventh and #01 Joe Nemechek tenth, while the disappointment lay in #14 Sterling Marlin's 27th.
The other Hendrick satellite outfit is Gene Haas' #66 Chevy, and new driver Jeff Green reached 18th in the first practice.
3 - Joe Gibbs Racing won the Firecracker 400 last year and has won the Daytona 500 and once at Talladega, but their Chevrolets had a rather up-and-down practice. Rookies #11 Denny Hamlin and #18 J.J. Yeley hit the top 15 running, but defending NASCAR champ Tony Stewart was only 34th and JGR's satellite outfit, Hall of Fame Racing - how ironic that Washington Redskins coach Gibbs is helping Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, owners of the #96? - managed only 36th in the #96. One has to wonder if Gibbs' engine shop may be a little stretched right now.
4 - Petty Enterprises weren't the only Dodges showing something. Their engine benefactor, Evernham Motorsports, put #19 Jeremy Mayfield eighth in the practice session, while new teammate #10 Scott Riggs got in a decent practice time in 20th. However, the rest of Evernham wasn't so strong - #9 Kasey Kahne, who has generally plummetted since his breakthrough win at Richmond, was only 32nd.
The other high-profile Dodge teams are Penske Racing and Ganassi/SABCO Racing, and it is here that the Toyota cloud hangs closely - particularly with Ganassi, which won the 24 Hours of Daytona running Lexus racecars with Toyota's 2007 NASCAR engine design. Roger Penske's carpetbagging with manufacturers is well known - he ran Chevrolets then switched on little more than a whim to Mercedes, then when his CART effort eventually folded and moved to the IRL he ran Chevys then switched to Toyota. In NASCAR he ran Pontiacs when he came back in 1991, then switched to Ford to get more money and engineering help. He did it again when Dodge's NASCAR effort changed philosophies following Lou Patane's departure and the assumption by Stuttgart of control of the program. Dodge then went after Penske, cut back on helping their other teams (leading to the present Bill Davis Racing imbroglio), and Penske went with the money again. When Toyota enters, Penske is widely expected to switch again when his Dodge contract runs out - if not before.
Penske's Dodges were a mixed bag - Kurt Busch, fresh from resolving his traffic spat with Phoenix cops, clocked 13th in the practice while #12 Ryan Newman had a disappointing 31st. Of all the drivers in NASCAR Newman may be the most one-dimensional, as he exploded to eight wins in 2003 but has consistently struggled since the switch back to lower downforce and softer tires from 2004 onward.
Ganassi/SABCO were looking even less impressive with their new lineup following JGR's approach of two rookies led by a veteran. The veteran, #42 Casey Mears, was just 29th while rookie #41 Reed Sorenson was 28th and rookie #40 David Stremme was a lowly 39th.
5 - The crowd favorite remains Dale Earnhardt Jr., and amid some annoying maukish rememberences of Dale Sr. by the media, Junior didn't light up much in first practice as the #8 was 26th. DEI teammates were even worse - #1 Martin Truex was 40th and #15 Paul Menard, a former Andy Petree project, was 42nd.
DEI is paying for being too dependent on an aerodynamic gimmick to win on the plate tracks - aero work on the transmission tunnel and underside of the car. In the 2004 500 Michael Waltrip flipped and the underside of his Chevy was exposed and viewed to the world. Don't think rival teams didn't record that footage and glean something from footage of that underside.
6 - With Ford's program basically a Jack Roush effort, there aren't that many Fords to talk about. But some of them are pretty fast. Robert Yates' pair, with their engine program merged into Roush's, hit the track running and hit the top six together. #38 Elliott Sadler, though, may be feeling some pressure to perform, as he won twice in 2004 but has been disappointing quite a bit as well. #88 Dale Jarrett's comeback triumph at Talladega may be the shot in the arm he needs to run to the front more consistently.
The Roush fleet was up and down the first practice chart. #17 Matt Kenseth hit 15th and new teammate #26 Jamie McMurray was 19th. Perenially cheerful #99 Carl Edwards continues to ride the magic carpet as he clocked a decent 22nd, while loudmouth #16 Greg Biffle was 24th and is looking a bit surlier this year, and #6 Mark Martin in a year he wasn't scheduled to race was only 33rd.
The only other Ford of note is the Wood Brothers #21, beginning an ambitious alliance with Tad Geschteckter but getting off to an uninspiring start at 38th in practice for #21 Ken Schrader.
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One of only two other noteworthy teams is Bill Davis Racing, presently running Dodges, point man for Toyota come 2007, and struggling so far in 2006 - #22 Dave Blaney was only 45th, #23 Mike Skinner 47th, and new teammate, perennial loudmouth #55 Michael Waltrip, using BDR as springboard for his own team and presently allied with ex-Jasper Racing head Doug Bawel for the now-defunct #77's 2005 owner points, was an embarassing 50th.
The other noteworthy team is #4 Morgan-McClure Motorsports, the Chevy that won three Daytona 500s and two Firecracker 400s in the 1990s but is now a team priced out of contention by the bigger outfits. #4 Scott Wimmer was 43rd and needs a superb run in the 150s as they do not have owner points to fall back on for the 500 field.
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All this is of course subject to change as Speedweeks proceeds, so stay tuned.
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