Cumulative Daytona Test Speeds
1 2 Rusty Wallace Ford 46.601 193.129
2 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 46.841 192.139
3 9 Jerry Nadeau Ford 46.855 192.082
4 2 Rusty Wallace Ford 46.879 191.984
5 28 Kenny Irwin Ford 47.092 191.115
6 28 Kenny Irwin Ford 47.105 191.063
7 12 Jeremy Mayfield Ford 47.113 191.030
8 12 Jeremy Mayfield Ford 47.127 190.973
9 6 Mark Martin Ford 47.180 190.759
10 13 Dick Trickle Ford 47.198 190.686
11 77 Robert Pressley Ford 47.225 190.577
12 31 Dave Marcis Chevy 47.247 190.488
13 75 Ted Musgrave Ford 47.247 190.488
14 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 47.304 190.259
15 16 Kevin LePage Ford 47.314 190.219
16 97 Chad Little Ford 47.336 190.130
17 99 Jeff Burton Ford 47.361 190.030
18 33 Ken Schrader Chevy 47.381 189.950
19 13 Dick Trickle Ford 47.391 189.909
20 21 Elliott Sadler Ford 47.425 189.773
21 3 Dale Earnhardt Chevy 47.472 189.585
22 00 Larry Pearson Pont. 47.482 189.546
23 9 Jerry Nadeau Ford 47.491 189.510
24 98 Rick Mast Ford 47.500 189.474
25 94 Bill Elliott Ford 47.510 189.434
26 23 Jimmy Spencer Ford 47.517 189.406
27 26 Johnny Benson Ford 47.575 189.175
28 66 Darrell Waltrip Ford 47.631 188.954
29 98 Rick Mast Ford 47.677 188.770
30 58 Ricky Craven Ford 47.737 188.533
31 21 Elliott Sadler Ford 47.666 188.813
32 2 Rusty Wallace Ford 47.758 188.450
33 23 Jimmy Spencer Ford 47.765 188.422
34 97 Chad Little Ford 47.774 188.387
35 11 Brett Bodine Ford 47.774 188.387
36 19 Jimmy Spencer Pont. 47.823 188.194
37 33 Ken Schrader Chevy 47.842 188.119
38 11 Brett Bodine Ford 47.856 188.064
39 94 Bill Elliott Ford 47.898 187.899
40 90 Mark Harmon Ford 47.911 187.848
41 77 Robert Pressley Ford 47.912 187.844
42 3 Mike Dillon Chevy 47.920 187.813
43 10 Ricky Rudd Ford 47.978 187.586
44 84 Stanton Barrett Ford 48.011 187.457
45 6 Mark Martin Ford 48.061 187.262
46 99 Jeff Burton Ford 48.204 186.706
47 75 Ted Musgrave Ford 48.223 186.633
48 90 Mark Harmon Ford 48.314 186.281
49 16 Kevin LePage Ford 48.323 186.247
50 78 Gary Bradberry Ford 48.353 186.131
51 21 Elliott Sadler Ford 48.372 186.058
52 10 Ricky Rudd Ford 48.438 185.805
53 58 Ricky Craven Ford 48.505 185.548
54 31 Dave Marcis Chevy 48.783 184.490
55 59 Mark Gibson Ford 48.814 184.373
56 45 Glen Morgan Chevy 48.895 184.068
57 26 Johnny Benson Ford 48.956 183.839

Jan. 8, 1999
Newman passes audition
By ANDREW BOOTH, Staff Writer - Speed Magazine-News Journal

DAYTONA BEACH - Car owner Richard Childress might have a new test driver - acting legend Paul Newman.

Childress, who normally employs Mike Dillon and Dave Marcis to test his Chevrolets when regular drivers Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner are absent, had the Academy Award-winning actor take a couple of laps in Skinner's No. 31 Chevy Thursday during a General Motors test session at Daytona International Speedway.

Newman was at DIS giving moral support to close friends and stuntmen Stan and Stanton Barrett. Stan Barrett, who is also a retired Winston Cup driver, is overseeing his son Stanton's progress with the No. 84 PBH Motorsports Chevrolet. Stanton Barrett, 26, will run for Winston Cup Rookie of the Year in 1999.

The 73-year-old Newman took two testing runs around the 2.5-mile tri-oval, including a fast lap of 184.853 mph.

"It was better than a kick in the (butt)," Newman said as he climbed from the car.

Newman, who was part of the winning team in the 1995 Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona GT-1 class, had no hesitations of hopping into a Winston Cup car.

"You would need a rope to keep me out of (the car)," said Newman, who drove Geoff Bodine's Ford at DIS a couple of years ago. "I love this track."

Childress was beaming after Newman's first run.

"This car has got a race setup on it and he ran a 49.15 and we were running a 49.05 today," Childress said. "I'm impressed."

Joked Stan Barrett to Childress: "I'm his agent. We'll talk about contracts."

Larry McReynolds, crew chief for the No. 31 Chevrolet, coached Newman a little bit on the radio .

"He's a very successful racer that's had a long racing career as well as (that) other career he pursues," McReynolds said. "It's neat he could do it in a Lowe's car and I could be on the other end of the radio talking to him.

"He really wasn't saying a whole lot. I didn't talk to him a lot. I made him aware when to go (on the track) and maybe to peek at the water temperatures and a few things.

"That will be neat (one day) to bounce my grandkids on my knee and say, I talked to Paul Newman on the radio. He drove our race car one time.'"

Newman was busy throughout the day tracking the lap times of Stanton Barrett and chatting with several drivers, including Dillon, Marcis and Ken Schrader.

Marcis, who worked with Newman testing IROC cars on the West Coast in the 1970s, offered some helpful hints.

"I told him to just take her out there and hold her wide open and steer her," Marcis said. "He did an excellent job."

It's been rumored that Newman might drive a limited schedule for Stan Barrett on the Craftsman Trucks Series later this year, but the actor says he hasn't signed a contract.

With his busy schedule, finding time to compete in races has always been difficult for Newman.

"I started racing when I was 47, so I could do one or the other, but not both," Newman said. "(Acting) is where I've ended up."

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Jan. 8, 1999
Daytona testing notebook
By ANDREW BOOTH, Staff Writer - Speed Magazine-News Journal

FASTEST: Dave Marcis, testing the No. 31 Chevrolet driven by Mike Skinner and owned by Richard Childress, posted the fastest speed of Thursday's General Motors test session at Daytona International Speedway.

Marcis, who normally drives his own No. 71 Chevrolet, turned a lap of 190.488 mph around the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Ken Schrader, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet, posted the second fastest time with a 189.950.

Schrader finished fourth in last year's Daytona 500, despite driving with a broken sternum that he suffered in a crash earlier in the week.

"I don't feel I'm overdue for a Daytona 500 win," said Schrader, who started from the pole for three consecutive 500s from 1988-90 and has yet to win the prestigious season-opening event. "When you say that you're overdue, you give the impression that something is owed to you. You work hard and do the best that you can. You always want to win.

"Daytona was a good and bad experience for us last year. We wrecked a really good race car, but we were very prepared. We came ready, left sore, but got about $350,000 richer for the experience."

ACCIDENT: ARCA driver Glen Morgan, testing his No. 45 Chevrolet in hopes of making the season-opening Daytona 500, crashed in Turn 4, causing some damage to the right rear of the car.

LEAKING: Mike Dillon, testing the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt and owned Richard Childress, broke an oil line. The oil line, which broke because it was rubbing on the pavement of the race track, did not cause any damage to the engine.

WHAT'S NEXT: Cars entered in the Rolex 24 at Daytona are next up to test at DIS, beginning a three-day session on Saturday that will includethe first two nights under the lights.

A section of the Oldfield Grandstand is open free to the public at no charge with access through Daytona USA.

Speeds for Day Two of GM Testing

Car No. Driver Speed Make
31A Dave Marcis 190.488 Chevy
33A Kenny Schrader 189.950 Chevy
3T Mike Dillon 189.585 Chevy
00 Larry Pearson 189.546 Pontiac
33 Kenny Schrader 188.119 Chevy
3D Mike Dillon 187.473 Chevy
8 Stanton Barrett 187.457 Chevy
31B Dave Marcis 184.490 Chevy

Childress Brings Both Teams To Daytona For GM Test

Schrader leads six-team test with fastest speed

Daytona Beach Beach, Fla. (Jan. 6, 1998) -- Richard Childress is so eager to win a Winston Cup championship in his 30th season of NASCAR Winston Cup racing that he jumped at the opportunity to test his two-car team Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway.

"I'm having a lot of fun today," said Childress, who fields Chevrolets for drivers Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner. "It's kind of like getting a fix off the smell of the fuel, tires and the engine."

But it wasn't just a day at the beach. There was plenty of work to be done in preparation for the season-opening Daytona 500, Feb. 14.

Six teams took advantage of the first General Motors test of the season at Daytona. Along with the two teams of Childress, drivers Ken Schrader, Stanton Barrett, Glenn Morgan and Larry Pearson tested during the first day of the two-day test.

Schrader had the fastest lap during testing with a speed of 189.893 mph. General Motors testing continues Thursday. A portion of the grandstands is open free to the public during testing at Daytona.

The GM teams will be back at Daytona Jan. 19-20 for one of NASCAR's mandatory tests. Under the new NASCAR testing policy, each team has seven test dates, with only three being an option.

"The Daytona 500 is such an important race that this is one of the places we would want to burn a test because when you come back for the open test there will be 30 or 40 teams here and you are going to be limited to the practice you get," Childress said.

"Today we're having a wonderful test. That was the reason for burning one test. We are looking at this like we were only going to get one test here.

"The next test might be 30 percent productive because of the number of cars. You'll have all the GM teams. This is a good wide, open test for us. It's going real good. Both cars are running good. We're about where we wanted to be, of course you always want to be faster. We're pretty close."

Instead of using his regular drivers - Earnhardt in the Goodwrench Chevrolet and Mike Skinner in the Lowe's Chevrolet - Childress had Mike Dillon in Earnhardt's ride and Dave Marcis filling in for Skinner, who is nearly 70 percent recovered from recent knee surgery.

"If it was anywhere but Daytona or Talladega you'd have to have your regular drivers," Childress said. "But here you go out and get a system of how you're going to go out on the track and get a line you're going to run every time.

"Each driver is within two feet of where they should be on the race track. The repeatability is good. We'll bring both the other drivers when we come back so they can get a good feel for the cars."

Speedweeks 99 begins Jan. 30-31 with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, followed by the stock-car portion of Speedweeks beginning Feb. 5.

For Speedweeks ticket information call (904) 253-7223.

Speeds from Wednesday's GM test at Daytona International Speedway

Car No. Make Driver Speed
33A Chev. Ken Schrader 189.893
31A Chev. Dave Marcis 189.211
3T Chev. Mike Dillon 188.052
3D Chev. Mike Dillon 187.813
33 Chev. Ken Schrader 187.590
00 Pont. Larry Pearson 187.231
84 Chev. Stanton Barrett 186.548
31B Chev. Dave Marcis 184.456
45 Chev. Glen Morgan 184.068

(These Racing News clips have been gathered from racing related sites on the internet, RPM2nite, Inside Winston Cup Racing, NASCAR Winston Cup Scene, Jayski's, StockCarFans Newsletter and various other racing related news sources. We will do our best to give credit where credit is due on where we obtain these news clips. They are believed to be accurate at the time they are posted here but cannot be guaranteed.)