DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was all about shaking down two NAPA AUTO PARTS TOYOTA Camrys today for driver Michael Waltrip. The NAPA crew is at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway participating in the second week of NASCAR Preseason Thunder, NASCAR’s mandatory test session for the NEXTEL Cup Series teams.

In total, the NAPA team will participate in three days of testing comprised of single-car and drafting practices. Today’s agenda got off to a slow start as rain delayed the start by an hour. Instead of the scheduled two practice sessions, NASCAR allowed the 34 NEXTEL Cup teams on hand to run without a lunch break.

Waltrip spent most of the practice running baseline tests using Camrys 55A and 55B. Chassis 55A completed a total of 25 laps with a fast lap of 49.098 seconds or 183.307 miles per hour. It was good for 25th place on the scoring chart. Chassis 55B’s fastest lap of the day was 49.597 seconds or 181.463 miles per hour. It completed a total of seven circuits and was 50th on the board.

David Gilliland recorded the fastest lap of the day at 48.625 seconds or 185.090 miles per hour. Rounding out the top-five quickest drivers were Jeremy Mayfield, Jeff Gordon, David Stremme and Regan Smith.

According to Waltrip, today was a good day for the NAPA AUTO PARTS team. “We ended up 25th overall, and considering it was our first day of testing with a new car, I am pretty happy,” said Waltrip. “We ran a 49.10 (seconds), and 49.60 (seconds) was the fastest time. We need more speed but we still have a long list of things to try, so I am optimistic that we can close the gap. Looking back at last week and Dale Jarrett’s fast lap, we picked up. We were hoping we could do that, so that is a good thing.

“David Hyder (crew chief) is doing a great job with his tech plan. He is really patient. He is really making sure everything is precise. He is very methodological, and you need to do that here at Daytona – otherwise, you are fooling yourself. Looking back, today was a good day, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

For a complete rundown of today’s Preseason Thunder practice times, please click here.

Up next for Michael Waltrip and the NAPA AUTO PARTS crew are two more practice sessions on Tuesday. The first practice kicks off at 9 a.m. ET with single-car runs. Then at 1 p.m., the NEXTEL Cup cars will run door-to-door in a drafting session.

Fans in the Daytona Beach area can see Michael tomorrow night at 6 p.m. ET as he takes part in the NASCAR Preseason Thunder Fan Fest located in the Fan Zone at Daytona International Speedway. Joining Michael for the 45-minute session will be drivers Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann, Regan Smith and David Stremme.