Rookie Johnson paces opening day at Daytona.

Jimmie Johnson set out his stall for the 2002 Raybestos Rookie of the Year crown at first opportunity as he paced the opening day of Winston Cup testing at the Daytona International Speedway behind the wheel of his Rick Hendrick/Jeff Gordon owned No.48 Chevrolet.

The 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup season seems that little bit closer after no less than 23 teams spent Monday pounding out the laps around the historic 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway under cool and cloudy skies at Daytona beach in Florida on the first of six days of official testing at the legendary venue that will eventually see nearly 50 teams take in their preparations for the upcoming Daytona 500 and the forthcoming Championship trail.

And although times during what is a very secretive and cagey affair are somewhat irrelevant, the fact that a rookie and a new driver with an un-celebrated team led the timesheets ahead of several Championship favourites and the defending title holder, made everything seem that little bit sweeter.

Fastest at the end of the first of three test days allotted to those teams who finished on odd numbers (1st, 3rd, 5th etc) in the final 2001 Winston Cup owners standings, was the No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Jimmie Johnson. Lapping at a speed worthy of a front row starting spot alongside Bill Elliott in the 2001 Daytona 500, Johnson and AJ Foyt Racing new boy Stacy Compton traded fastest times during the two practice sessions on Monday. Johnson, in a car part owned by reigning NWC Champ Jeff Gordon, eventually topped the lap charts with a best time of 49.148 seconds, good enough for an average speed of 183.120mph while Compton, in one of only two Pontiac Grand Prix's at the test, stopped the clocks in a best time of 49.157 seconds (183.087mph).

Although the 23 participating teams represented all four current Winston Cup car manufacturers, nobody took the opportunity to run with other cars in traffic and learn about drafting preferring to get a firm handle on their new machines. Drafting is likely to be seen on Wednesday when the majority of teams have found a comfortable number of different set-up tweaks.

Monday's test was also the first opportunity for some of the 2002 teams to put into practice some of the mooted '02 Superspeedway aerodynamic regulations to be used at Daytona and the similarly fearsome Talladega Speedway. Featuring a smaller restrictor plate to the engine, no roof flaps, a reduction of 15 degrees to the angle of the rear spoiler with Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Pontiac all allowed differences in the actual height of the spoiler. The changes are designed to prevent those high-speed 43 car freight trains that have led to some of the wildest, yet most dangerous racing, seen for many years in NASCAR.

Should NASCAR choose to implement above alterations, a decision that will be made closer to the start of the event once all teams have had the opportunity to test and give feedback, overtaking and drafting will be tougher than in recent years although just about every man and his dog are trying to work out ways that won't see the race return to the soporific bore it became in the mid to late 1990's.

Ward Burton, in Bill Davis' No.22 Dodge, was the only other driver to break the 183mph barrier to make it three different marques in the top three although overall it was Chevrolet who seemed to have the upper hand with six of the nine Monte Carlo mounted teams present finishing the day inside the top ten. Ironically (or should that read consequentially), the aero-revisions seemed to be more of a hindrance to the 'Bowtie's' main rival, Ford, than any other with the unfancied Phoenix Racing example of veteran Geoffrey Bodine the fastest of nine 'Blue Ovals' present, more than half a mile per hour slower than Johnson in eighth place on the list.

It is not un-coincidental that Johnson, who was fastest, was the only 'Rookie' at the test and Compton, making his very first on-track appearance for Foyt, ended up second overall after leading the morning session. Neither was it a surprise to see the 'Must impress in 2002 or goose is cooked' Robby Gordon in fourth spot with Terry 'Cannot have another year like 2001 or top-line career finished' Labonte rounding out the top five ahead of Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Bodine who of all the Ford teams present has the least to loose as he does not yet have the budget for a full-time assault on the season after 'The 500'.

Dave Marcis was a late, but most welcome addition to the entry list and ended the day 12th fastest overall while missing from the published list of entrants was Derrike Cope and Kevin Harvick, who was given a late sick-note by NASCAR so he can presumably formulate his Busch Grand National Championship speech for the series' banquet in California later this week. Harvick will be allowed to run with the second group on January 14th-16th.

Both Dave Blaney and Joe Nemechek made steady starts with new teams Jasper Motorsports and Travis Carter Racing respectively with Blaney managing no better than 50.064 seconds aboard the No.77 Ford in 20th overall and Nemechek slowest of all in the No.26 Ford driven by Jimmy Spencer last year. Two of the most fancied Ford teams also struggled, or appeared to, badly with Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin failing to get above 179mph and ending the day 19th and 21st fastest.