BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Daytona Beach, Fla. — In 2000 when Chevrolet unleashed its new model Monte Carlo it brought a sled to Daytona International Speedway. The car wasn’t fast in practice or qualifying and got a best in class finish seventh from Terry Labonte. Apparently there was a lesson learned from that year’s roll out.

This year’s Monte Carlo, despite its common template design, is no slouch. The scoring sheets from both practices run today showed an awful lot of Bowties with the Chevrolet cars showing in the Top-3 spots of the second session and the Top-5 in the first.

The Chevys are strong in this garage comprised of common template car bodies, but the parity party is just starting. Today that buzz was reportedly capped off with Ford Racing Technology leaders, time sheets in hand, visiting the NASCAR trailer making sure that the powers that be had everything they needed as they reviewed Speedweeks data points.

As always Robert Yates Racing had its cars running strong and kept both the No. 38 and No. 88 in the Top-10 in both sessions. Elliott Sadler ran sixth fastest in the first session (183.722 mph) and Dale Jarrett ran sixth fastest in the second session (183.707 mph).

Despite the Chevrolet dominance at DIS this is not where the GTP sports car nose was designed to work best — the intermediate tracks are yet to come. There the shelves just above the headlights will do their job as an aerodynamic “splitter” and remedy the brand’s aero push problem.

THE HOURS
The last car to get an inspection sticker had it applied to the windshield at 10:03 p.m. last night, according to NASCAR Winston Cup director John Darby. He said he was pleased with the process, despite the teams’ occasional gripping about the lengthy day getting their cars ready for the track.

The number of confiscated parts was truly trivial (a front spring, that didn’t meet specification, from the No. 84; spring buckets, used to alter ride height, from the No. 25; an unapproved roof camera shell, condidered aero aid, from the No.15; belly plates and unapproved material used for instrument mounting from the No. 10) a fact that also brought a smile to Darby’s face.

“A lot of teams had to do very small things and flew right through on the second trip [through the inspection line],” Darby commented regarding Friday’s marathon inspection session. “We didn’t have any big saws out. We didn’t have any cutting torches and welders out and all the rest of that going. That’s good.”

Darby’s goal regarding inspections is to make them as consistent and non-confrontational as possible. “The more cooperation we give the teams and that they return to us the smoother those inspections go,” said Darby. “The end result of that is that everybody’s in a better mode when they walk in the garage in the morning.”

While it’s difficult to say that everyone’s in a better mood the general consensus is that the inspections were evenly applied and done with respect to the teams, which does help moral when it comes to getting ready for the biggest race of the year.

CANCEL THAT RSVP
Traditionally NASCAR has tested at least one of each make in a wind tunnel following the Daytona 500. This year that might not be the case, at least according to well-placed NASCAR sources. The tunnel time is scheduled, but the sanctionin body believes with what they’ve seen so far there probably will be no need to keep the reservation.

Asked if the annual visit to the Lockheed tunnel after the Hampton, Ga., race is still on www.teamfordracing.com was told by the NASCAR source: “I think it’d be comforting to know that after the race at Atlanta that we’d be heading straight home.”

PARDON THIS INTERRUPTION
Rusty Wallace was having a bad day, today, here at DIS. Not only was his Dodge Intrepid giving him fits (he practiced 42nd fastest), but add a Fox television network camera crew to that list.

Wallace has been thrashing on his new ride since he’s unloaded here at Daytona, which is making his predictions of a good Speedweeks something of a stretch.

Things got a little worse for Wallace when he came rocketing around a blind corner near Garage C and came across a pair of Fox shooters standing smack in the middle of the travel lane to pit road. Wallace slammed his brakes on, stopping well before hitting the two. The two Fox folks, however, were oblivious to their surroundings and the 3,400-pound car rumbling behind them. Wallace eventually caught their self-preservation interest with ever-deeper jabs into the throttle — the final jab emitted a wicked howl and scaring the two into consciousness.

The two hurriedly gathered their equipment and promptly walked into the path of another car, this one entering the garage. Later these two were seen they were walking down the middle of the inbound travel lanes to the garage.

One garage type joked, “It’s a good thing it’s an aero track or Rusty would’ve run ‘em over.”