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Sacks Quickest as Ford Teams Open Final Pre-season Test at Daytona

20 January 1998

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Greg Sacks of Mattituck, N.Y., posted the fastest speed as Ford NASCAR Winston Cup teams opened their final three-day pre-season test Monday at Daytona International Speedway as teams prepare for the all-new Bud Shootout At Daytona (Feb. 8) and the "Great American Race," the 40th Annual Daytona 500 (Feb. 15).

Sacks was clocked at 47.330 seconds, for an average speed of 190.154 mph, in his No. 98 Ford Thunderbird.

Dale Jarrett
Dale Jarrett
1993 and 1996 Daytona 500 champion Dale Jarrett, driver of the No. 88 Robert Yates Racing Ford Taurus, turned in the sixth fastest speed on the day. He was clocked at 47.877 seconds, for an average speed of 187.982 mph.

"We have a lot to learn here at Daytona because we really didn't get to where we wanted to be during our test at Talladega," said Jarrett. "As far as feeling like we're as competitive as we need to be, we have a lot of work that has yet to be done. This will be an interesting three days of testing.

"It's hard to say exactly what kind of race car the Taurus will be, with no more track experience than we have had. Whatever anybody says is just purely speculation, we really don't have any idea of what the Taurus may do in traffic or actual race conditions. The Bud Shootout and the Gatorade 125s are going to be a big tune up for us so we can exactly see what we have."

The Ford NASCAR Winston Cup test continues tomorrow. A section of the Oldfield Grandstand is open daily at no charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with access through DAYTONA USA, "The Ultimate Motorsports Attraction." Guided tours of the Speedway are also available from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a nominal fee. 

                                FORD TEST SPEEDS -- Jan. 19*
NO  DRIVER/CAR                  SPEED    NO  DRIVER/CAR                         SPEED
98  Greg Sacks/Ford Thunderbird 190.154  23  Jimmy Spencer/Ford Taurus          186.247
 2  Rusty Wallace/Ford Taurus   189.546  47  Billy Standridge/FordThunderbird   185.900
28  Kenny Irwin/Ford Taurus     189.167   6  Mark Martin/Ford Taurus            185.885
99  Jeff Burton/Ford Taurus     188.399  13  Jerry Nadeau/Ford Taurus           185.559
10  Ricky Rudd/Ford Taurus      187.997   7  Geoff Bodine/Ford Taurus           185.548
88  Dale Jarrett/Ford Taurus    187.982  16  Ted Musgrave/Ford Taurus           185.105
 9  Lake Speed/Ford Taurus      187.754  11  Brett Bodine/Ford Taurus           184.320
90  Dick Trickle/Ford Taurus    187.040  26  Johnny Benson/Ford Taurus          183.711
81  Kenny Wallace/Ford Taurus   186.351

* Electronic times taken throughout the day's practice sessions.