Hendrick Motorsports' Kasey Kahne set an unofficial new track record at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday, after reaching a top speed of 193.771 mph during the second of the two days of development testing of the 2013 model Sprint Cup cars.

"It felt fast and I knew where my throttle was, so I knew it was as fast as I have ever been around this track" said Kahne. "I just think this car goes around the corner quicker."

The time was set in the morning session, and NASCAR officials pointed out that the speeds were higher than would normally be the case during the season because the December temperatures were in the 40s Fahrenheit which added extra grip to the vehicles' performances and allowed the engines to deliver more horsepower.

Adding to the optimum conditions at the start of the second day's work on the sixth generation (or G6) model car were grey and overcast skies and a lack of any appreciable winds.

"I think that's basically a huge factor due to the weather," said Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief Steve Letarte of the day's top speed which exceeded Tuesday's by 3 mph. "I think weather is probably the primary contributor [but] I don't think we'll really know until we get to real race tracks on real race weekends."

On Tuesday, Joe Gibbs Racing's new boy Matt Kenseth suffered the sole noteworthy misstep of the 16 drivers at work, and on Wednesday it was his new JGR team mate Denny Hamlin's turn to suffer a setback.

Just seven laps into the morning session, the #11 broke an upper control arm and hit the wall. That meant the crew packed up the car, and Hamlin confirmed "Test over" in a tweet from the track.

In fact the entire field found their activity curtailed in the afternoon, when rain moved in and thwarted the teams' hopes to run another racing pack simulation in the final session.

The same drivers took part on Wednesday as on the previous day, with the exception of Marcos Ambrose taking over from Aric Almirola for Richard Petty Motorsports, and Wood Brothers Racing's Trevor Bayne not being present.

Morning session

1. #5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 193.771 mph
2. #20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 193.050 mph
3. #29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 192.458 mph
4. #42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing 192.020 mph
5. #24 Regan Smith Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 191.435 mph
6. #31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 191.293 mph
7. #2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Ford 190.968 mph
8. #22 Joey Logano Penske Racing Ford 190.833 mph
9. #27 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 190.685 mph
10. #11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 190.564 mph
11. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 190.523 mph
12. #47 Bobby Labonte JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota 189.873 mph
13. #13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 189.869 mph
14. #39 Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 188.897 mph
15. #9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 188.594 mph

Afternoon session

1. #5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 193.112 mph
2. #20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 191.993 mph
3. #24 Regan Smith Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 191.510 mph
4. #27 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 191.442 mph
5. #29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 190.981 mph
6. #31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 190.691 mph
7. #2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Ford 190.631 mph
8. #42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing 190.496 mph
9. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 190.221 mph
10. #47 Bobby Labonte JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota 190.215 mph
11. #22 Joey Logano Penske Racing Ford 189.789 mph
12. #13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 188.482 mph
13. #9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 188.344 mph
14. #39 Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 187.227

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