Scott headed for Cup?

Scott Speed had a promising start to his Sprint Cup apprenticeship by setting the second fastest time on the first day of official testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway today.

The 25-year-old previously tested a Cup car earlier this year, but today was his first outing alongside the series regulars. Speed set his best time during the evening session, running second to Loudon and Dover race-winner Greg Biffle.

"So far, it's going alright," said Speed. "It's nice to be out there with a lot of the other guys to see where we range. It's nice to follow some guys to see how this thing handles behind other cars.

"It's a little bit different, but, so far, everything is going really well."

While many drivers in the past have faced an uphill struggle in trying to get a good initial feeling out of the current Cup car, the Californian has been impressed by it relative to the ARCA and Truck machines he's been driving this year. He says that has made his transition much smoother.

"Honestly, I feel these (cars) a lot better," he said. "I feel the track better, it's a lot tighter, this thing moves around a lot less. Everything is done right on these things, the steering box, the pedal box, everything is really precise.

"That makes it easier for me to feel the car and the changes. So far, it's been an easy transition."

Speed believes that even if he has managed to adapt quickly to driving stock cars on ovals, he is still lacking experience. He claims to be ready to race in the Cup, and do a reasonable job, but wants to wait for the right moment to make the jump.

"As we started becoming successful in the Truck Series, we started looking at Cup testing to speed this process along," he said. "The more time I do before I get in a Cup race, the better.

"Am I ready now? Maybe. Could I have come straight over here to the Cup and not looked stupid? Probably.

"It's one of those things where I have the time to not do that, we're trying to take as much time as possible and really wait for the right circumstance to jump in."

The Red Bull racer has competed in 28 stock car races this year between ARCA and Trucks. He has won five and currently leads the ARCA standings with three races remaining.

He is expected to attempt his Sprint Cup debut in three weeks time at Lowe's, although the Red Bull Racing Team has yet to announce their driver line up for the last seven races of the season.

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Nice to see Scott going well. It would be great to see an open wheel guy have a really good transition into Nascar. Go Scott!!