Daytona: Friday Pit Notes 2006-02-10

2006 CROWN ROYAL IROC DAYTONA PIT NOTES
Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Ted Musgrave, Frank Kimmel, Wayne Taylor

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 10, 2006) -- Crown Royal International Race of Champions continued on-track activities on Friday with series competitors, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Ted Musgrave, Frank Kimmel and Wayne Taylor. All five drivers participated in the same session, interchanging cars between runs.

2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion, Ted Musgrave took his first laps in the Crown Royal IROC cars. "This is my first time ever in the IROC cars and I'm always telling people how much fun the Truck series is, but this kind of tops it," said Musgrave. "You can put these cars anywhere on the race track and they feel good. It's too much fun out there, I've never driven anything so much fun in all my life."

Taking in a second round of driver practice, seven-time ARCA Champion, Frank Kimmel said, "It's really a lot of fun out there and I have to thank the test drivers (Dave Marcis, Jim and Jay Sauter, Andy Hillenburg and David Donohue) for doing such a great job and being so helpful. Hillenburg and I are old friends and I really learned a lot out there in this session. The cars do move around a bit, but they not coming out from underneath you. I'm just figuring out how to suck up and what happens when you run side-by-side. I can certainly see now why these (IROC) races are so exciting."

The 2005 Grand American Road Racing co-Champion, Wayne Taylor got a little taste of the difference between practice and racing. Taylor said, "I would say today was another big step forward. Certainly I understand a little better what it will be like during the race after practicing with the NASCAR guys and Frank Kimmel. They're certainly a little more aggressive, which is the nature of how they race. This was really good to do, and can't imagine having gone into the race not testing with series competitors. I was very comfortable running with them, the cars felt good and now I just need to get as many laps in as possible before the race."

About his first experience with bump drafting Taylor said, "I saw Ryan (Newman) coming up in my mirror and I've seen a lot of cars behind me during practices, but I've never seen one come up so close. It felt as though he was pushing on my seat. It didn't disturb the car, it actually felt good and we were going in a straight line. The car felt a bit loose in turn two, but I don't know if he was actually touching me or was just very close. These are the kinds of things I want to learn more about before the race."

"I got in the car for the first time today and it felt really good," said Ryan Newman. It's nice to be back in the IROC Series and working with the Signore family again in 2006. I'm really looking forward to the IROC race next week at Daytona. We won the race two years ago and had an absolute blast racing out there. I'm sure that this race won't let me down as far as fun and action goes, and I'm hoping to find the same finish too."

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