Burton bulls his way to top of speed chart
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
January 9, 2002
5:43 PM EST (2243 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Ward Burton and 2002 rookie contender Jimmie Johnson Wednesday continued their three-day run atop the preseason speed chart at Daytona International Speedway.
Burton posted the day’s fastest single car lap in his No. 22 Dodge, in 48.980 seconds, an average speed of 183.748 mph, and may have been even faster when pulled along by a five-car draft that was a couple hundred yards ahead of him on the backstretch.
“It was pretty clean (but) it wasn’t perfect,” Burton said of the draft in front of him, which could have created some speed-boosting suction. “I didn’t have anybody right in front of me, but when I exited Turn 2 there was a small pack going into Turn 3. It could have been a little bit of help.”
Johnson, who was fastest after each of the first two days of the test in his No. 48 Chevrolet, ran the fastest lap Wednesday morning, 49.069 and 183.415. The 48.962 / 183.816 effort he rang up Tuesday was the fastest turned in by the 23 teams, who tested 43 cars.
Rounding out the top-five single-car laps Wednesday were Kenny Wallace in the No. 1 Chevrolet (183.486), Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Chevrolet (183.262) and Bobby Hamilton in the No. 55 Chevrolet (183.139).
The fastest Ford lap was Brett Bodine’s morning effort of 49.280 / 182.630. The fastest by a Pontiac was Stacy Compton’s 49.560 / 181.598.
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