BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Daytona Beach, Fla. — Several of the non-Ford types see NASCAR’s Preseason Thunder logo as raining on their parade. The dampened spirits perceive the noses of the cars featured in the session logo to be of the Ford Taurus.

A close look at the grill openings, which have a distinctive oval shape, and there is a match. Likely the graphic was designed with little regard to the grill, but then again, maybe NASCAR decided to provide a little PR bump for the 2002 manufacturers championship model — the Ford Taurus.

ROUND 2
The second week of NASCAR Winston Cup testing is underway and the Chevrolet owned by Andy Petree and driven by Christian Fittipaldi is topping the charts in the first of the three-day session.

“There was maybe a little small draft because a car was in front of me,” said the Brazilian native of his 49.030-second lap. “That doesn’t worry me though because the car is probably in the Top-4 [in the field].”

There was a bit of a debate regarding Fittipaldi’s appearance as he tested Andy Petree’s No. 55 car last week, and is running Petree’s No. 33 this week. NASCAR was asked several times why Fittipaldi was allowed the back-to-back sessions but did not provide an answer as of the close of business Monday.

Second fastest in the session was Penske Racing South hot shoe Ryan Newman. Newman, who didn’t miss a beat with the conversion from Ford to Dodge sheetmetal , cruised the 2.5-mile high-banked superspeedway with a 49.071-second lap at 183.408 mph.

Third fastest in the session was Dale Jarrett in his UPS Ford. Jarrett ran a respectable 49.158-second lap at 183.083 mph. Other notable Ford runners included Mark Martin, who ran car No. 6, sixth fast, Dale Jarrett in the No. 88b was 13th fast and 16th fastest was Ricky Rudd in the No. 21 car. Testing continues tomorrow.

TOYOTA DIGGIN’ AROUND
According to garage sources Toyota has placed at least one call to a third party engine casting company. The engine manufacurer is looking for support information and specifications for the V8 engine they’ll need if they want to go NASCAR racing in the future.