DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. NASCAR found what it was looking for through big-pack drafting during Friday afternoon’s testing session at Daytona International Speedway — scintillating restrictor-plate racing.
Test drive
By increasing the restrictor plates to 15/16ths of an inch and offering the cars 26 more horsepower to work with after Thursday's first day of testing, drivers on Friday exceeded the 204.722-mph mark set by Martin Truex Jr. during tandem drafting in the morning session while in a 16- to 20-car pack at the start of the afternoon practice.
But the top speed of 206.058 mph was set 90 minutes into the afternoon session by Kurt Busch, working in tandem with his regular drafting partner, Regan Smith. Busch hit 210.9 mph down the backstretch.