Ryan Newman led the second Sprint Cup practice session of the day on Wednesday as teams made their final preparations for the upcoming Gatorade duel qualifying races at
Daytona International Speedway but the biggest talking point was an apparent faulty batch of valve lifters that have, so far, affected several of the teams using Hendrick Motorsports engines.
While Newman topped the charts with a time of 47.427-seconds (189.765mph) in his #12 Penske Racing Dodge all four Hendrick Motorsports cars had problems with Bud Pole winner Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and Jeff Gordon all missing the session completely and Dale Earnhardt Jr suffering an engine failure during the session. All four Hendrick cars as well as those of Haas CNC Racing, who use Hendrick motors, were having their engines changed before Thursday's Gatorade duel qualifying races.
In addition to the troubles in the Hendrick/Chevrolet camp there were also worried faces at Toyota, where several teams including that of Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart and Hall of Fame Racing's JJ Yeley have suffered engines failures as well.
One Toyota driver apparently not concerned with engine longevity was Daytona 500 front row starter Michael Waltrip, who was second fastest behind Newman and, assured of his place in Sunday's big race, can now focus solely on helping his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Dale Jarrett successfully qualify for his final ‘500 before retirement.
Dave Blaney was third fastest in his #22 Bill Davis Racing Dodge with Bill Elliott fourth in the #21 Wood Brothers Ford. Elliott, who is also making his final attempt at the Daytona 500, was the fastest of those drivers not currently qualified for Sunday's race.
Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five in the #9 Gillett-Evernham Dodge before a raft of drivers who will be fighting for their lives in Thursday's qualifying races.
![Michael Waltrip. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405830.jpg)
