DAYTONA PHOTO QUEST
Photo Quest Story and photos by Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Daytona International Speedway preseason testing this year was more interesting than the normal routine drivers call boring because of the "Car of Tomorrow" has not been tested on the vast Daytona track. This year that car is the "Car of Today" and is the only car that Cup teams will run in 2008.
Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, open-wheel champion Sam Hornish Jr. were among many NASCAR drivers in attendance. (Images presented below) Two days were set aside for inexpensive fan attendance called Preseason Thunder. Fans viewed their favorite drivers at work and queued up at garage observation windows for sights and autographs.
Reporter Dwight Drum asked Tony Stewart:
After all your experience does it get easier to handle the changes at this level, the changes of rules, equipment, engines? "I think everybody that gets to this level can handle it. I don't think it's a bigger deal having the experience. But this year it's not as big a change obviously. In the big picture it seems like a huge change because we switched manufacturers. But if we went ahead and made this change a year ago, it would have been a lot more dramatic than it is this year with the car that's the same for everybody. It's just literally a decal package and a motor package for the most part. I think it's a less of a change this year than it would have been in the past."
© 2008 Dwight Drum
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