Higher speeds, added wrecks close LVMS test

It was more of the same Tuesday as Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder at Las Vegas Motor Speedway came to a close.

High speeds and accidents were as prevalent as they had been Monday. Seven different drivers wrecked cars during the two days of the test.

Elliott Sadler posted the fastest speed of the four individual sessions, racing his No. 19 Dodge to 188.772 mph, covering the 1.5-mile track in 28.606 seconds.

Paul Menard was the only other driver to top the 188 mph mark, leading the morning session in his No. 15 DEI Chevrolet at 188.370 (28.667 seconds).

In all, 11 cars lapped the track in less than 29 seconds, eight of which were in the afternoon session.

Sadler posted the morning's second-fastest speed at 187.188 (28.667) and teammate Scott Riggs was second-best in the afternoon at 187.318 (28.828)

David Gilliland recorded the third-best speeds in both sessions, coming in at 186.896/28.848 in the a.m. and 187.175/28.850 in the p.m.

Toyota had one driver each in the top-10 of both sessions. Mike Skinner was ninth in the morning at 185.033/29.184 and Michael Waltrip was ninth in the afternoon at 186.162/29.007.

A.J. Allmendinger didn't have quite the same luck in his No. 84 Team Red Bull Toyota, crashing for the second consecutive day in the opening moments of Tuesday's morning session.

Allmendinger crashed near the same spot in Turn 2 where his other Camry came to grief Monday, when a tire let go.

"I was heading into Turn 1 and I felt the car wiggle a bit," Allmendinger said Tuesday morning. "I tried to save it, but it was too late. The car just swapped ends on me and I went flying up into the wall."

Allmendinger was uninjured, as were David Reutimann and David Ragan, a pair of Cup rookies who crashed Tuesday afternoon. Reutimann's No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota crunched its right-rear corner early in the afternoon, while Ragan crashed his No. 6 Roush Racing Ford with less than 15 minutes left in the test.

The track had just reopened following cleanup from Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s blown engine when Ragan hit the wall in Turn 2, which was the big trouble spot during the two days.

Early in the day, minutes after the track reopened from Allmendinger's crash, Ward Burton also suffered an engine failure in his No. 4 Morgan-McClure Chevrolet.