BUSCH: Shane Hall Returns to Test at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (Feb. 1, 2000) Less than 24 hours after breaking his left ankle in a vicious backstretch accident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Shane Hall was back in the seat Tuesday testing the No. 0 Alumni Motorsports Chevrolet at the 1.5-mile oval. 41 teams tested LVMS Tuesday.

Monday, Hall experienced a suspected steering problem and made contact with the inside retaining wall, causing the car to roll several times. He turned the team's backup No. 0 Chevrolet over to 1999 NASCAR Winston West Series champion Sean Woodside during the early stages of Tuesday's test, but returned to the seat for the majority of the day.

"I think something broke in the steering and I just started heading straight at the inside wall," Hall said of his crash. "The car started flipping, and I don't remember much after that. I'm pretty sore."

Hall received a hairline fracture of the left ankle in the accident. He was treated and released from University Medical Center and returned to the track before the end of the day Monday.

The fastest time of the 23 teams present Monday belonged to Jeremy Mayfield. The driver of the No. 12 Mobil 1 Ford Taurus toured the 1.5-mile superspeedway at approximately 166.153 mph (32.5 seconds).

"We're real happy with the car," Mayfield said. "We know we're fast, but we also need to be smart. We didn't try many long runs, but we didn't have a true qualifying setup in either. We'll probably try some longer runs tomorrow (Tuesday)."

Other NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers who posted fast times during the first day of testing were Dale Earnhardt Jr., (32.7 seconds, 165.137mph), Stacy Compton (32.8 second, 164.643 mph) and Jeff Gordon (33.3 seconds, 162.162 mph).

Among those NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers present at the test Monday were Chad Little, Ricky Craven, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr., Mayfield, Ken Schrader, Wally Dallenbach, Kenny Wallace, Dave Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Compton, Jeff Fuller and Derrike Cope.

NASCAR Busch Series drivers testing Monday were Kevin Grubb, Hall, Jay Sauter, Chad Chaffin, Casey Atwood, Gus Wasson, Mike Dillon and Kevin Harvick.

Testing at LVMS will continue through Wednesday. Approximately 16 more teams joined the mix Tuesday.

-nascar.com-