NASCAR WCUP: Mayfield reaches 177.312 to top Brickyard test charts
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
July 26, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS - Jeremy Mayfield wheeled a Ford to a fastest lap of 177.312 mph July 25 to claim the top spot on the speed chart for the two-day NASCAR Winston Cup Series test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the Brickyard 400 on Aug. 5
Mayfield ran the lap before ambient temperatures reached 90 degrees and track temperatures hit 134. The session was ended approximately three hours early due to afternoon rain.
"We just took what we learned yesterday and put it all together," Mayfield said. "We have two cars here and got a lot of good information, and it worked out for us. Yesterday was a day in the middle, sort of half qualifying and half race setup. This morning, we put it all in one package in qualifying trim. That was actually a qualifying run."
Mayfield's speed was just a tick of the watch off of Jimmy Spencer's 177.560 best in last week's test for the other half of the expected field. Casey Atwood was second fastest today at 176.512, followed by Indiana native Ryan Newman at 176.291 and Mayfield in a second car at 176.194.
"We want to find a little more when we come back," Mayfield said. "We have to beat Spencer. I hope (there's more speed). You never know.
"This place is real good about changing and getting faster. We'll take what we learned, come back and hopefully adapt to the changes and weather conditions and go from there."
In the afternoon, speeds fell off. Kevin Harvick was the fastest at 173.581, followed by Hut Stricklin at 172.828 and Atwood at 172.662. Rain ended the afternoon session at 2:32 p.m.
In all, 27 drivers and 46 cars were on the track during testing today.
Ricky Rudd, fastest Tuesday at 175.809, was 27th fastest today at 170.937 today. Defending Winston Cup Series and Brickyard 400 champion Bobby Labonte continued to struggle. Labonte was the 24th fastest driver at 171.432 today; he was 28th at 169.434 on Tuesday.
Brickyard 400 track activity begins at noon (EST) Friday, Aug. 3 with True Value International Race of Champions series practice. A one-hour Winston Cup practice starts at 2 p.m., with a final IROC practice scheduled at 3:15 p.m.
One-lap Winston Cup qualifying starts at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, and the 100-mile IROC race takes the green flag at 2 p.m. The eighth running of the Brickyard 400 is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5.
NASCAR WINSTON CUP TOP TESTING SPEEDS BY DRIVER,
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, JULY 25
(Fastest speed overall for each driver)
Pos. No. Name Speed
1. 12A Jeremy Mayfield 177.312
2. 19B Casey Atwood 176.512
3. 02 Ryan Newman 176.291
4. 93A Dave Blaney 175.864
5. 15A Michael Waltrip 175.709
6. 90 Hut Stricklin 175.107
7. 21A Elliott Sadler 175.043
8. 88 Dale Jarrett 174.686
9. 96A Andy Houston 174.615
10. 4A Kevin Lepage 174.348
11. 77A Robert Pressley 173.829
12. 29 Kevin Harvick 173.581
13. 07 Ted Musgrave 172.994
14. 7A Mike Wallace 172.891
15. 92K Stacy Compton 172.848
16. 44B Buckshot Jones 172.559
17. 17A Matt Kenseth 172.150
18. 57A David Keith 172.130
19. 31 Robby Gordon 172.064
20. 36 Ken Schrader 171.864
21. 45 Kyle Petty 171.811
22. 37B Derrike Cope 171.772
23. 55A Bobby Hamilton 171.687
24. 18A Bobby Labonte 171.432
25. 95 Ed Berrier 171.116
26. 10 Johnny Benson 171.073
27. 28T Ricky Rudd 170.937
28. 84 Shawna Robinson 170.846
29. 20 Tony Stewart 170.678
30. 9B Bill Elliott 170.335
31. 89 Morgan Shepherd 169.949
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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