Maybe some of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams should become meteorologists.
Content with what they had achieved thus far or concerned about Sunday's weather forecast, six teams pulled out Saturday night, leaving only 24 teams for the final day of NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway.
Roush Fenway Racing's Colin Braun and Joey Clanton pulled out - due to wrecked trucks - following the first day and six more headed back home Saturday night.
Those leaving early and not hanging around for the three hours that teams got on the track Sunday were Jason White, Shane Sieg, Kyle Busch, Wayne Edwards, Brian Scott and Derrike Cope.
Despite leading the first two days' single-truck runs, Roush Fenway Racing's Erik Darnell hung around to squeeze in every minute of testing he could on Sunday and surprisingly did not top the speed charts.
"Our truck program is great, especially on the bigger tracks like this one,'' said Darnell, who was 17th on the speed charts with a speed of 182.260 mph. I had a pretty good idea in the back of my mind that when we unloaded we were gonna be pretty good, and all three of our trucks were really good in the single-truck runs. But we're more concerned with getting the thing to run well in the draft.''
Due to overnight rains, teams had to wait for two hours to get on the track Sunday morning and finally hit the storied 2.5-mile high-banked layout just before 11 a.m.
They raced through the lunch hour and got in exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes of testing before rains - and a bleak forecast for the remainder of the day - forced NASCAR to pull the plug on the test three hours prematurely.
One of the surprises of the shortened third day of testing was the chart-topper, which was the No. 9 Toyota of Justin Marks, who is sponsored by Crocs footwear.
Marks turned a lap of 185.732 mph, which was just a tick quicker than the Chevrolets of Ron Hornaday (185.414 mph) and Chad McCumbee (185.326 mph).
"I have a lot of experience running this race track, but this is only my second time running the oval. So, I knew what the race track was like coming in -- but my only experience here was running in an ARCA car on Hoosier tires with a very different aerodynamic profile,'' said Marks. "I think it was a matter of just getting used to how the trucks go fast around Daytona -- it's different than the cars have been."
The No. 60 Wyler Racing Toyota of Terry Cook was fourth-quickest with a lap of 185.162 mph, while former NCTS champion Todd Bodine, wheeling the No. 30 Germain Racing Toyota, rounded out the top-5.
Rounding out the top-10 speeds of the final day were the No. 59 of Ted Musgrave, Mike Skinner, Jon Wood, Phillip McGilton and Matt Crafton.
"The test has gone very well. We've focused primarily on the 100 laps after qualifying. We're not really so concerned with where we qualify, that's not all that important. No truck that I've drafted with this weekend has seemed to be all that stable and driveable, so everybody is fighting the same thing,'' said Wood. "There's a lot of dancing around. I don't know if it's the surface being so rough and worn out or what, but, again, our focus has been on making it drive well."
The only incident of the final day of testing came from the No. 22 Toyota of Bill Davis Racing when McGilton spun in Turn 4 and hit the wall. He was treated and released at DIS' Infield Care Center.
The 32 teams that tested will get just over a month to prepare for the season-opening Chevy Silverado 250, which will be contested here at DIS on Feb. 14.
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