Target Corporation : Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates – Daytona Test Session – End of Day Three

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates - Daytona Test Session - End of Day Three

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates - Daytona Test Session - End of Day Three

Saturday, January 14, 2012

AM Practice Session Results

P1       Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet - 44.655

P9        Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/McDonald's Chevrolet - 46.283 seconds

P10      Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet - 44.644 seconds

PM Practice Session Results

P1       Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet - 44.874 seconds

P9        Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet - 45.190 seconds

P10      Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/McDonald's Chevrolet - 45.248 seconds

EGR teams wrap-up the first test session for the 2012 season with a three day test at Daytona International Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Changes implemented by NASCAR for Saturday's test session included the closing of the bottom of the radiator opening; reducing radiator pressures approximately four pounds and a return to the restrictor plate used in Thursday's test session.  NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton stated, "We're going to continue to work on aero packages and plate sizes and all types of things from now until the day we sign back in here at Daytona."

Early in the afternoon session Juan Pablo Montoya had slight contact with another car and suffered some minor left front fender damage.  Montoya commented after the incident, "I was running in the middle of a three-wide pack off turn two, when both of the other cars around closed in on me in the center.  I just hit the brakes to bail out or it would have been a lot bigger." 

The EGR teams tried a variety of different chassis combinations and strategies throughout the day to include several single car runs, along with some tandem runs to monitor how the cars could run together without over-heating.

Quotes following three day test at Daytona International Speedway:

Jamie McMurray: We had three good days here, but the testing has been kind of wild so far.  It seems like we don't know exactly what the rules are going to be, so it's a little bit hard to do all of your testing when you're not 100 percent sure on the plate or what it will be like when you do the drafting.  It's normal testing, but it's a little bit chaotic, as well."

Juan Pablo Montoya : "Our goal is to figure out what we need to do to make our Target Chevrolet better before we come back down for Speedweeks. We want to gain as much knowledge as possible. I guess we'll have to see what changes NASCAR will make before we come back next month.  I think we gained a lot of valuable information this week."

The next official activity for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be when teams return to Daytona International Speedway for 2012 Speedweeks.  Events will include the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday February 18, Daytona 500 qualifying February 19, Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races February 23, and the 54th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday February 26, 2012.

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