Thursday, February 12, 2009

Dodges lead the way at Daytona 500 practice

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Kasey Kahne led the way during Sprint Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, while Joey Logano continued to struggle during his first week as a full-time driver on NASCAR's top circuit.

Kahne posted a session-best lap of 190.994 mph in his No. 9 Dodge. He was followed by fellow Dodge drivers Kurt Busch (190.840) and Sam Hornish Jr. (190.678).


Logano's session ended early when his No. 20 Toyota scraped the wall, sending him to the garage six laps into the hour-long session. Logano was unhurt, and stood in the garage watching crew members try to get the car in shape to run during the afternoon practice.

Defending champion Ryan Newman had a bumpy morning, too, blowing the engine in his No. 39 Chevrolet.

"Something broke in the engine. I'm not really sure what," Newman said. "The horsepower has been great in qualifying and it felt strong out there, but I was just coming up through the gears and getting up to speed and something let go. It's unfortunate, but these guys have got another bullet they can bolt in there and we'll be good to go."

Pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. ran 37th among the 54 cars that hit the track with a fast lap of 187.402 mph.


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