Daytona notebook: Fog puts crimp in track schedule

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 11:49 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dense fog canceled Tuesday morning's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series practices at Daytona International Speedway and shortened the Winston Cup drivers' afternoon practice session to one hour.

When the Winston Cup cars finally got onto the track, Mike Skinner posted the fastest lap at 189.247 mph in the draft in his No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet.

Ricky Craven, who replaced Scott Pruett behind the wheel of the No. 32 Tide Ford, was second fastest at 189.191 mph and Robert Pressley was third quickest at 189.159 in the No. 77 Jasper Engines Ford.

Bill Elliott, who won the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500, was eighth fastest at 188.731 -- but his wasn't the quickest Dodge. Sterling Marlin had the top speed in an Intrepid R/T at 188.810, seventh fastest among the 52 drivers who took to the 2.5-mile track.

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who was 40th fastest in qualifying last Saturday, was 34th quickest Tuesday at 186.590 in his unsponsored Ford Taurus.

In its first NASCAR broadcast Sunday, Fox showed the logos of some cars but not others.

After meeting with NASCAR officials on Monday, however, Fox said it would use all the logos in its graphics beginning Thursday with the twin-125-mile qualifying races.

"There's always some things to get used to when things are different," said Fox spokesman Lou D'Ermilio. "This was one of them. It's kind of like when you buy a new home there are always some things that have to be fixed. We got it fixed."

Brian France, senior vice president of NASCAR, called the matter a "bump in the road."

"We were surprised by what happened, and we'll probably be surprised in the future with a lot of other things," said France, grandson of the founder of NASCAR, Bill France Sr. "But that's the nature of new relationships. You have to expect that things aren't going to be perfect."

Other drivers among the 26 starters in the second qualifying race include Tony Stewart, Ward Burton, Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

Heading the list of drivers in the first qualifying race is pole winner Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt.