Daytona Preseason Thunder - Wood Brothers Racing summary

Bill Elliott and the Wood Brothers Racing Team have completed the year's first tests in the #21 Sprint Cup Series Ford Fusion at the famed Daytona International Speedway. Beginning on Monday, January 14, 2008 and finishing on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 the #21 Sprint Cup Series Ford Fusion completed numerous single car runs and drafting runs.

During the Monday morning test session, the #21 Ford Fusion was 25th fastest in single car runs. In the afternoon, it had climbed to 16th quickest. The following day began slower with the #21 registering 33rd quickest in the morning. However, by the afternoon, the team had the car running 18th quickest. On Wednesday, during an extended practice period, the #21 Ford Fusion was 21st fastest overall and the 3rd quickest Ford.

The team has made significant improvements in its Car of Tomorrow ("COT") program, thanks to the efforts of the team and its new Crew Chief, Gene Nead. The results from this first test were very encouraging.

Driver Bill Elliott stated, "I've been coming to Daytona for a lot of years and this was a very good test. The team has made a lot of progress from last year. We made a lot of runs in two cars that were brought for testing. We made more runs than any other team."

Crew Chief Gene Nead noted, "We made major gains in our COT program from last year. The team worked diligently to accomplish our test objective, making 22 runs the first day; 21 runs the second day and completing every one of our test objectives for the third day. We picked up three-quarters of a second from last year."

Team Owner Eddie Wood added, "My hats off to the team and Gene Nead. The Team worked really hard during the off season to prepare two quality cars for testing. It's a real tribute to them to make the kind of progress we have in two months."

The team's next test will be at Las Vegas on January 28th and 29th followed by testing at California Speedway on January 31st and February 1st.

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season begins the week of February 7, 2008. The Bud Shootout, a special race that includes past Bud Pole winners, starts the season on February 9, 2008. Bill Elliott will be driving the Air Force Fusion in The Shootout, by being a past winner of the event. On Thursday, February 14, 2008 race participants run in one of two qualifying races. The weeks' activities culminate in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 17, 2008, with Bill Elliott in the Little Debbie Fusion.

-credit: wbr