Preseason Thunder Under Way in Daytona

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams took to the track today for the first time in 2006 as teams had their first test session of the year at Daytona International Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson topped the speed charts in the morning session with Bill Elliott third. Elliott then had the fastest lap of the day in the evening session to set the pace ahead of Jimmie Johnson who was second quick.

Really preseason testing doesn't tell us very much. You never know who is running their best stuff and who is sandbagging on a weak engine. Everybody wants to run fast enough to test effectively, but nobody wants to tip their hand too much.

It is also important to notice that there is to strict tech inspection process during testing. Teams could be running all kinds of crazy configurations that would never make it through "The Room of Doom" during race weekend when technical inspections are tight.

While it is fun to watch the times from practice and it is great to hear the engines on track again don't read too much into who is fast and who isn't. Preseason Thunder has never proved to be a very good predictor for race day.