The majority of NASCAR Sprint Cup teams had no interest in practicing for the Daytona 500 in the first of two practice sessions Friday at Daytona International Speedway.
2011 Daytona 500: Practice? Uh, No Thanks!
The garage had a laid-back atmosphere in the 60-minute practice, which saw only 12 of the 43 cars hit the track.
Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Paul Menard had the fastest two-draft at 196.64 mph, followed by David Ragan, Marcos Ambrose and Denny Hamlin.
Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, AJ Allmendinger, Andy Lally, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards were the only others to practice (and their speeds were in that order).
Edwards ran by himself the entire practice – 181.148 mph – because he didn’t want to run around other cars.
No one did, really. With the Daytona 500 looming and drivers feeling they have a keen understanding of what the two-car draft will do, they felt no need to practice and risk a wreck.
Some teams don’t plan on practicing for the entire day, even though there are two more practice sessions remaining for the Daytona 500.
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