Final Practice at Daytona 500
Saturday, February 17 12:05 p.m. ET
60 minutes in length
Top-20 speeds (one lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Best Time | Best Speed |
1 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevy | 9 | 45.696 | 196.954 |
2 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 7 | 45.795 | 196.528 |
3 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 8 | 45.81 | 196.464 |
4 | 24 | William Byron | Chevy | 8 | 45.829 | 196.382 |
5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 7 | 45.847 | 196.305 |
6 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 9 | 45.852 | 196.284 |
7 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 18 | 45.876 | 196.181 |
8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 4 | 45.877 | 196.177 |
9 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevy | 8 | 45.889 | 196.125 |
10 | 51 | Justin Marks | Chevy | 9 | 45.931 | 195.946 |
11 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 6 | 45.931 | 195.946 |
12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 17 | 46.316 | 194.317 |
13 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 4 | 46.809 | 192.271 |
14 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 14 | 46.809 | 192.271 |
15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 6 | 46.926 | 191.791 |
16 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 10 | 47.027 | 191.379 |
17 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 10 | 47.073 | 191.192 |
18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 12 | 47.075 | 191.184 |
19 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 3 | 47.081 | 191.16 |
20 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 3 | 47.22 | 190.597 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Penalized Drivers
15-minute penalties at the end of practice
- Kyle Busch
- Gray Gaulding
- AJ Allmendinger
- Jimmie Johnson
Items of Note:
- A lot of drivers kept the cars on the jacks for the final practice because of mileage limits on the one engine allowed for the week.
- Early in the practice 13 cars formed a side-by-side draft pack for several laps
- Darrell Wallace Jr. was P1 halfway through final practice after running just a few laps. Says he’s running a lot of pit lane mock runs to get speeding issue behind him and he is still getting used to the digital dash.
- Daniel Suarez feels that his car is finally handling well and has nice speed to it after running just a few laps in Saturday’s final practice
- Alex Bowman said his car feels good and he’s been able to keep it clean this week. Bowman hasn’t had a chance to work in big drafts yet this week, which could be an issue if he slips back in the field on Sunday. He did have radio issues this week but they finally fixed the problem
- Danica Patrick ran several laps as a dress rehearsal for the 500 after making adjustments on Friday that made the car worse and she ran ninth in her time on the track
- Ryan Newman says his car will go wherever on the track he wants it to and had the third fastest lap with 20 minutes left in happy hour
- Kurt Busch notes that there is a lot of sensitivity in the left rear of the cars and it makes it hard to control it in the draft. He feels very good with his car with the speed and stability of the 41-Ford
- Austin Dillon says the car has very good single car speed and works well in the draft and the improvements the team made since the clash have worked to make the car less wild
- Justin Marks ran in the top-10 for the second practice in a row
- Joey Logano is working on mock pit runs with 10 minutes left in practice
- Only one Toyota (Daniel Suarez) ran in the final practice on Saturday
- Chris Buescher says he feels better than he has in the past ahead of the Daytona 500 and his car has great drivability and handling but wants a little more speed in the car
- 25 cars ran at least one lap in the final practice session
- Denny Hamlin was one of the 15 that didn’t run the final practice and he didn’t run two of the last three practices this week to keep his car clean
Practice 4 at Daytona 500
Friday, February 16 3:05 p.m. ET
50 minutes in length
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
POS | CAR | DRIVER | Make | LAPS | BEST TIME | BEST SPEED | BEST LAP |
1 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 27 | 44.296 | 203.179 | 12 |
2 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 20 | 44.347 | 202.945 | 13 |
3 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 20 | 44.364 | 202.867 | 9 |
4 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 19 | 44.392 | 202.739 | 13 |
5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 16 | 44.403 | 202.689 | 4 |
6 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 10 | 44.421 | 202.607 | 4 |
7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 24 | 44.447 | 202.488 | 16 |
8 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 23 | 44.457 | 202.443 | 3 |
9 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 25 | 44.573 | 201.916 | 16 |
10 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 19 | 44.591 | 201.834 | 17 |
11 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 20 | 44.6 | 201.794 | 18 |
12 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 20 | 44.604 | 201.776 | 18 |
13 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 19 | 44.61 | 201.748 | 18 |
14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 28 | 44.614 | 201.73 | 13 |
15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 5 | 44.629 | 201.663 | 3 |
16 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 13 | 44.72 | 201.252 | 10 |
17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 17 | 44.726 | 201.225 | 4 |
18 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevy | 9 | 45.089 | 199.605 | 7 |
19 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 24 | 45.106 | 199.53 | 9 |
20 | 24 | William Byron | Chevy | 24 | 45.113 | 199.499 | 9 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Nine Fords drafted together in the opening laps of the second session Friday
- A group of multiple manufacturers drafted together after the group of Fords
- Martin Truex Jr. told his crew chief seven minutes into practice that he has to draft to see what the car is like. His car today has been similar to the Clash in that it is very unstable.
- Early practice speeds are 3 mph faster than the first session on Friday
- 10 minutes into practice cars are working on making tight passes and side drafting runs due to the start time of practice correlating to the start time of Sunday’s race.
- Daniel Suarez had a “bobble” as Darrell Waltrip said with 37 minutes left in practice. He saved it but showed instability trying to pass.
- Ryan Newman caused Aric Almirola to get a bit loose when getting on his left side quarter panel with 34 minutes left in practice.
- Erik Jones says they killed all of the speed in the car and he has no “driveability” in the car. He brought it back to the garage with 32 minutes left in practice.
- Aric Almirola pulled off the track with 25 minutes left in practice saying that he was really happy with the car overall and that he had seen what he needed to see.
- Austin Dillon says they worked on handling and his car now feels more stable on the track and entering the corners. He only ran five laps in the second session on Friday.
- Jimmie Johnson has some instability in the 48-car still in the second practice after running 28 consecutive laps. He is on his third car of the weekend after crashing out in both The Clash and his Duel race. He ran 41 total laps.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said his car felt really good in the draft with his follow Ford drivers on Friday but said the grip was better in the Duels last night than it is during either practice. He pulled the car into the garage with 18 minutes left in practice.
- Ryan Newman pulled off the track with 12 minutes left in practice as the second fastest car in the second practice session Friday. The team was satisfied with the car and was working on minor body repairs.
- William Byron said with 8 minutes left in practice that his backup car feels identical to his primary car and that he felt very comfortable in practice with the backup on the track.
- With five minutes left in practice, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Daniel Suarez were drafting together.
- Joey Logano says they worked on some things in the two practices to get the car to have more handling and a bit more speed.
- 17 cars total ran a lap at better than 200 mph in the second practice session Friday.
- 29 cars of the 40 were on the track for the fourth practice session
Daytona 500 Practice 3 Notes
Friday February 16 1:05 p.m. ET
50 minutes in length
Top 20 speeds (one lap)
Rank | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Best Time | Best Speed |
1 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 23 | 45.036 | 199.840 |
2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 27 | 45.058 | 199.743 |
3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 14 | 45.069 | 199.694 |
4 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 17 | 45.079 | 199.650 |
5 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevy | 14 | 45.134 | 199.406 |
6 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevy | 11 | 45.136 | 199.397 |
7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 28 | 45.180 | 199.203 |
8 | 62 | Brandon Gaughan | Chevy | 8 | 45.190 | 199.159 |
9 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 15 | 45.380 | 198.325 |
10 | 51 | Justin Marks | Chevy | 22 | 45.385 | 198.303 |
11 | 00 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevy | 16 | 45.561 | 197.537 |
12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 15 | 45.580 | 197.455 |
13 | 24 | William Byron | Chevy | 8 | 45.581 | 197.451 |
14 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 5 | 45.604 | 197.351 |
15 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 22 | 45.606 | 197.342 |
16 | 72 | Corey LaJoie | Chevy | 7 | 45.636 | 197.213 |
17 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 10 | 45.654 | 197.135 |
18 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 18 | 45.750 | 196.721 |
19 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 6 | 45.813 | 196.451 |
20 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 25 | 45.821 | 196.416 |
Top-10 10-lap averages
Best 15-lap averages
Kyle Busch | 45.76 |
Denny Hamlin | 45.74 |
Kyle Larson | 47.68 |
Items of note:
- Erik Jones wants to work on handling and body work and worked through the first practice
- Cars worked on single-file drafting as well as side-by-side drafting in packs of seven and eight throughout practice
- Denny Hamlin spent the practice exploring different lanes on the track to see where his handled the best
- Kyle Larson didn’t do drafting in Practice 1 given that he crashed in The Clash and in Duel 1 on Thursday night. His second backup car won’t be in Daytona until later Friday night.
- Chase Elliott ran 33rd in practice (starts P4 Sunday) and only ran a handful of laps and spent most of the last seven minutes doing pit lane runs for timing purposes.
- Denny Hamlin says they changed a lot of things in the car between the Duel on Thursday night and the first practice and the car was a lot better in practice Friday than the duel on Thursday.
- 36 of the 40 drivers were on the track during the first practice overall
- Four Toyotas and four Chevrolets were in the top-10 overall with two Fords rounding out the rest.
- Chevrolets took nine of the 10 spots between 11th and 20th this practice session.
- Eight drivers were practicing in backup cars following crashes in the Duels on Thursday night: Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson (as noted above), Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Matt DiBenedetto, and David Gilliland.
- Four drivers are swapping engines out of their cars due to crash damage: Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, and Matt DiBenedetto. But since they are due to crash they will only start at the back of the field for Daytona and not Atlanta as well.
- Brad Keselowski used his backup car, which won Talladega last fall, and says his backup is as good as his primary was.
- Austin Dillon is using his car from The Clash and said he is a lot more comfortable in that car 40 minutes into practice.
- Jamie McMurray and his team did a lot of body work during the first session on Friday.
- Kevin Harvick spent the session trying to nail down his handling, The car is fast but it was loose most of the session.
- Seven cars faced 15 minute penalties served at the end of practice: Danica Patrick, Gray Gaulding, Michael McDowell, David Ragan, A.J. Allmendinger, Brendan Gaughan, Mark Thompson.