Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Jimmy Vasser’s Busch car faster than he thought

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jimmy Vasser knew he had a fast racecar going into qualifying for Saturday's Koolerz 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

But the veteran open-wheel driver admitted to being a little surprised Wednesday after he qualified fifth for his first Busch Series race with a lap of 185.280 mph.

"I knew we could run fast; I knew the car was fast because we tested here fast," Vasser said. "But I'm a little surprised about where we are on the (starting) grid."

Vasser was second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. (185.586 mph) midway through qualifying until Kevin Harvick (185.468) knocked Vasser to third. Joe Nemechek grabbed the pole away from Earnhardt with a 186.050 run and Mike McLaughlin snuck in fourth at the end of the session with a lap of 185.452.

Vasser, who has eight career poles in CART's Champ Car series, said qualifying a stock car is similar to qualifying an open-wheel car on a superspeedway.

"We're just wide-open in the Indy Car, as well, on the superspeedways," Vasser said. "You just try to maximize the balance and try to make it really free and try to drive it the shortest way around without binding the car up."

Vasser is slated to run up to 10 Busch Series races in the No. 30 Braun Racing Dodge while running a full Champ Car schedule. He credited his qualifying run to the work the team did preparing the car.

"Qualifying is more of an indication of the car and the team than anything and this is a good race team," Vasser said. "They get some technical help from Chip Ganassi's Winston Cup team and Dodge is making good power so I'm not surprised that the car's fast."

The manufacturer already has been recruiting teams and drivers and as many as six Toyota trucks may be entered at the 2004 season opener in Daytona. Toyota Racing Development, USA, will design, develop, and build the Craftsman Truck Tundra V8 to NASCAR specifications in its Costa Mesa, Calif., facility.

The move by Toyota into the Truck Series is expected to eventually lead to the manufacturer competing in the Winston Cup Series which, to date, has been limited to domestic automakers.

"It was the most scared I've ever been in a race car," Hornish said of the incident. "The car started to come around and I tried to correct it and went straight into the wall.

"It was the hardest hit I've ever had at that angle. Anytime you hit headfirst in any kind of car, it's going to hurt."

Gordon was able to put the No. 31 Dodge into the field despite the fact that her team, Brevak Racing, had only two weeks to prepare the truck.

"I am really excited and I am real proud of all the effort and hard work that has gone into this for the past two weeks," Gordon said. "You couldn't ask for anything better from a team."