DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2006) – The final
test session of the preseason for the NASCAR Busch Series
takes place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Feb. 6 – 8.
The next stop for series teams will be the season-opening
Hershey’s Kissables 300 at Daytona International
Speedway on Feb. 18, which kicks off the 25th anniversary
season of series sponsor Anheuser-Busch.
This year, NASCAR has set a schedule for when and where
each of its national series may test at tracks that host
NASCAR events. Those tests will be the teams’ only
opportunities to test at those tracks. Las Vegas is one
of five tracks that NASCAR Busch Series teams can utilize
for tests this season.
“Teams were surveyed on the tracks where they
wanted to test, and Las Vegas was a very important facility
because a lot of the information can be transferred to
the other 1.5-mile tracks in the series,” said NASCAR
Busch Series Director Joe Balash. “This is the first
preview for all the downforce cars and for the teams to
test the new body styles,” he said.
Over 40 teams are scheduled to participate in the three-day
session where teams select two of the three available days
to test.
Many of the drivers scheduled to attend the test had
tremendous success at intermediate tracks last season.
Carl Edwards (No. 60 Ameriquest/Henkel Ford) captured two
wins and three Busch Poles – one at Las Vegas – in
addition to posting four other top-five finishes among
his NASCAR Busch Series races at 1.5-mile tracks. The 2005
series Raybestos Rookie of the Year finished third in the
championship standings.
Reed Sorenson (No. 41 Discount Tire Co. Dodge), who
finished fourth in the final NASCAR Busch Series points
standings in 2005, registered four top fives at tracks
of that distance; Clint Bowyer (No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet),
last year’s series runner-up, had six top-10 finishes
while Jon Wood (No. 47 Clorox Ford) counted four top fives
among his finishes at 1.5-mile tracks. Wood finished 15th
in the points standings last year.
Other drivers scheduled to attend the session include
six who also finished in the top 10 of the NASCAR Busch
Series championship standings in 2005: Denny Hamlin (No.
20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet), Paul Menard (No. 11
Menard’s Chevrolet), Kenny Wallace (No. 22 AutoZone
Ford), David Green (No. 27 Kleenex Ford), Jason Keller
(No. 1 Miccosukee Resort Dodge), who will drive for Phoenix
Racing this season and Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ameriquest Ford),
the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion.
Other top 2006 title contenders scheduled to test are
John Andretti (No. 10 FreedomRoads Racing Ford), who makes
his fulltime series debut this season; Ashton Lewis Jr.
(No. 25 U.S. Marine Corps Ford) and his new Team Rensi
Motorsports running mate Regan Smith (No. 35 McDonald’s
Ford); Jason Leffler (No. 32 Braun Racing Chevrolet), and
Johnny Sauter (No. 00 Yellow Transportation Chevrolet).
In addition to Biffle, three other former NASCAR Busch
Series champions are scheduled to test – Joe Nemechek
(No. 87 NEMCO Chevrolet), who won in 1991, David Green,
who captured the 1994 crown and Kevin Harvick (No. 29 U.S.
Coast Guard Chevrolet), the 2001 series champion. Nemechek
and Harvick are also NASCAR Busch Series team owners. Harvick’s
KHI organization has two teams; one will test at Las Vegas,
that of Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Burney Lamar
(No. 77 Dollar General Chevrolet).
Other Raybestos Rookie hopefuls are scheduled to make
their series testing debuts at Las Vegas including Danny
O’Quinn (No. 50 Roush Racing Ford) and Todd Kluever
(No. 06 3M Ford) of Roush Racing, Mark McFarland (No. 88
U.S. NAVY Chevrolet), who drives for two-time series champion
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team and Chris
Wimmer (No. 23 Keith Coleman Racing Chevrolet). Wimmer
is the younger brother of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver
Scott Wimmer.
Although not a rookie, another first-year driver of
interest will be Paul Tracy (No. 34 Sport Clips/American
Crew Chevrolet). The veteran open-wheel star plans
to make his NASCAR debut this season in the NASCAR Busch
Series with a five-race schedule. A pair of teenagers,
19-year-old Stephen Leicht (No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford) – who
along with Matt McCall will share time with Elliott Sadler
in the Robert Yates Racing entry – and 18-year-old
Steve Wallace (No. 64 Jackson Roscoe Foundation Dodge),
son of recently-retired NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace, are
also scheduled to attend the test session.
And along with Bowyer, Edwards, Hamlin, Sorenson and
Harvick, Kyle Busch (No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet), a native
of Las Vegas, and J.J. Yeley (No. 18 Vigoro/Home Depot
Chevrolet), whose hometown is Phoenix, Ariz., are scheduled
to test. That group plans to run a full season this year
in both the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
Series.
Edwards, who tested in Las Vegas with his NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup team last week, continues his busy schedule .He will
depart from Las Vegas following his test session on Feb.
7 to participate in day-long media appearances in Mexico
City on Feb. 8 in preparation for the March 5 road-course
race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
