Childress
brings both teams to Daytona test
The Earnhardt Connection - '99 News
Daytona Beach Beach, Fla. (Jan. 6, 1998)
-- Richard Childress is so eager to win a Winston Cup championship in his 30th season of
NASCAR Winston Cup racing that he jumped at the opportunity to test his two-car team
Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway.
"I'm having a lot of fun today," said Childress, who fields Chevrolets for
drivers Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner. "It's kind of like getting a fix off the
smell of the fuel, tires and the engine."
But it wasn't just a day at the beach. There was plenty of work to be done in preparation
for the season-opening Daytona 500, Feb. 14.
Six teams took advantage of the first General Motors test of the season at Daytona. Along
with the two teams of Childress, drivers Ken Schrader, Stanton Barrett, Glenn Morgan and
Larry Pearson tested during the first day of the two-day test.
Schrader had the fastest lap during testing with a speed of 189.893 mph. General Motors
testing continues Thursday. A portion of the grandstands is open free to the public during
testing at Daytona.
The GM teams will be back at Daytona Jan. 19-20 for one of NASCAR's mandatory tests. Under
the new NASCAR testing policy, each team has seven test dates, with only three being an
option.
"The Daytona 500 is such an important race that this is one of the places we would
want to burn a test because when you come back for the open test there will be 30 or 40
teams here and you are going to be limited to the practice you get," Childress said.
"Today we're having a wonderful test. That was the reason for burning one test. We
are looking at this like we were only going to get one test here.
"The next test might be 30 percent productive because of the number of cars. You'll
have all the GM teams. This is a good wide, open test for us. It's going real good. Both
cars are running good. We're about where we wanted to be, of course you always want to be
faster. We're pretty close."
Instead of using his regular drivers - Earnhardt in the Goodwrench Chevrolet and Mike
Skinner in the Lowe's Chevrolet - Childress had Mike Dillon in Earnhardt's ride and Dave
Marcis filling in for Skinner, who is nearly 70 percent recovered from recent knee
surgery.
"If it was anywhere but Daytona or Talladega you'd have to have your regular
drivers," Childress said. "But here you go out and get a system of how you're
going to go out on the track and get a line you're going to run every time.
"Each driver is within two feet of where they should be on the race track. The
repeatability is good. We'll bring both the other drivers when we come back so they can
get a good feel for the cars."
Speedweeks 99 begins Jan. 30-31 with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, followed by the stock-car
portion of Speedweeks beginning Feb. 5.
For Speedweeks ticket information call (904) 253-7223.
Speeds from Wednesday's GM test at
Daytona International Speedway
Car No. Make Driver Speed
33A Chev. Ken Schrader 189.893
31A Chev. Dave Marcis 189.211
3T Chev. Mike Dillon 188.052
3D Chev. Mike Dillon 187.813
33 Chev. Ken Schrader 187.590
00 Pont. Larry Pearson 187.231
84 Chev. Stanton Barrett 186.548
31B Chev. Dave Marcis 184.456
45 Chev. Glen Morgan 184.068
|
