DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 28, 2006) - The Crown Royal International Race of
Champions returned to track action Wednesday for a four-hour session at
Daytona International Speedway (DIS) with driver practice in preparation for
the series' road race at DIS Thursday night, June 29.

Drivers getting behind the wheel for the first time were 2005 NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series champion Ted Musgrave along with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
drivers Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth. Musgrave, who is starting on the pole
in the 20-lap, 71.2-mile road race, was grateful to get a few pre-practice
tutored runs in a street car by David Donohue before embarking on the course
in the IROC cars.

After his first run on the road course in the racecar, Musgrave said, "Thank
goodness I was following David Donohue, he's the school teacher here on the
road course for IROC. I've been in the IROC cars and I've road raced, but
I've never been in the IROC cars on a road course, and I've never driven on
the road course here at Daytona. The worst thing you can do is over drive it
and wreck a car, so I'm just working up to it slowly. I haven't done this in
probably six, or seven years, so slowly, but surely, I'm getting a little
better. I think the best thing I can do tomorrow night is race my own race.
There are some really good road racers in this deal and some of them have
been down here practicing quite a bit, so all I can do is my best to keep my
car on the course, don't make mistakes, or ruin the transmission, or brakes
and see where it ends up. Mostly, I'm going to have some fun, but don't get
me wrong, I'll race it really hard, I just know I'm up against some good aces
out there."

After his initial run, Newman said, "Like some of the other guys, I've never
been around the road course here at Daytona, so it's been a new experience
for me here today, just getting used to the track, learning the corners with
braking and things like that. I only went off the track twice in about 10 or
12-laps, so that's pretty good, I just need to get out there some more and
get some more experience. It's a great opportunity for me to get out there
with some of the champion road racers and see if I can learn something from
them before tomorrow night."

The 2004 Crown Royal IROC Champion, and current points leader, Matt Kenseth
said, "Just having raced on the road course at Sonoma may have helped a bit,
but the IROC cars feel completely different than the Cup cars, especially the
braking with carbon pads and rotors, which I haven't run before on a road
course - they just feel a lot different. I did run this course in a Daytona
Prototype, so I'm familiar with the track. I can say, tomorrow night in the
IROC cars is going to be fun - it's going to be a real interesting race, and
I'm just glad to have the opportunity to be a part of it."

Returning for more seat time after last week's practice sessions were Grand
American Rolex Sports Car Series champions Max Papis and Max Angelelli, along
with 20-time World of Outlaws Sprint Series champion Steve Kinser and
seven-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel. Later in the day the Crown Royal IROC
Series finally got a chance to test out the wet weather package after a
downpour late Wednesday afternoon at DIS.

IROC's road race specialist, David Donohue strapped into the Crown Royal IROC
cars, equipped with Goodyear Eagle Radial rain tires, and took to the
3.56-mile road course with headlights on, windshield wipers and defoggers
going and all the creature comforts for running in wet weather. Donohue said,
The Goodyear rain tires held up great. As far as I was concerned, the feel of
the car remained very consistent. It's a raceable package and it was fun
sliding around a little out there. They've done a lot with the racetrack in
recent years with paving the infield track and the puddles that were there
when I first went out receded very quickly. If we wind up running in the rain
I'm confident everyone will be pretty comfortable."

IROC President Jay Signore said, Right now I think we're in pretty good shape
from what David (Donohue) is telling us. The cars feel pretty stable in the
wet conditions. It wasn't pouring when he went out, but the track surface was
soaked pretty good. We did a quick suspension adjustment in back-to-back runs
to see if it would help the wet conditions a little bit, but his (Donohue's)
comments were that we could go either way with the set up. I feel better
having had the opportunity to get out on the wet surface, but I do hope we
get to run the race dry tomorrow night."

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