Testing at Daytona

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 16, 1998

NASCAR GOODY'S DASH TESTING GETS UNDERWAY AT DAYTONA

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The 1997 Discount Auto Parts 200 runner-up, Christian Elder, posted the fastest time in the first of two days of testing for the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series at Daytona International Speedway, as the teams begin their preparations for this year's Discount Auto Parts 200 by NAPA, February 13.

Elder was clocked at 55.024 seconds at an average speed of 163.565 mph, in his David Watson prepared Pontiac Sunfire.

"This is the same car we brought here last year." said the 29 year old Minneapolis, Minn. driver. "We had a real good run here last Feb., but just came up one place short in the end. We did pick up super speedway win later in the year at Charlotte, but I'd love to have a win here at Daytona. Not many people get to do that."

"Today was a good test for us. The car felt good and I'm sure it will get even better before Feb. 13. We'll try a few more things tomorrow. If we can pick up a few more hundredths, I'll feel like we're heading in the right direction. If we start backing up, at least we've got a good starting point for when we come back next month."

Darryl Murray's Ford Probe was second fastest in the day's practice results. The Fort Lawn, SC native turned the 2.5 mile super speedway in 55.288 sec at an average speed of 162.784 mph.

Many of the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series teams not in attendance for this scheduled test session will be making the trek to Daytona for a second session next week when the new six cylinder version of this sub-compact touring series makes it's debut.

Top 10 fastest teams of the day:

1. 21 Christian Elder           Pontiac  55.024   163.565
2. 52 Darryl Murray             Ford     55.288   162.784
3.  9 Ned Combs                 Pontiac  55.813   161.253
4. 95 Greg Goodell              Pontiac  57.275   157.137
5. 49 Rusty Wise                Pontiac  57.377   156.857
6. 69 Scott Weaver/Bryan Gandy  Pontiac  57.446   156.669
7. 00 Chris Vanadore            Pontiac  57.529   156.443
8. 29 Steven Barfield           Pontiac  57.536   156.424
9. 45 Jon Redman                Pontiac  57.542   156.407
10. 4 Billy Joyner              Pontiac  58.214   154.602