Practice report

Jimmie Johnson tops Daytona 500 practice in NASCAR return

Jimmie Johnson, who will make his first NASCAR Cup start since 2020 in Sunday’s Daytona 500, was fastest in Friday’s lone practice session.

Johnson, driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club, of which he is co-owner, ended up with the fastest average speed (194.225 mph).

While drafting together late in the 50-minute session, Johnson, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman posted the top four speeds.

“It’s my first weekend in this car. It’s Todd (Gordon, crew chief)’s first weekend working on the Next Gen car. First time we’ve all worked together,” Johnson said. “We’re going through quality reps right now.

“There are a lot of aspects to this that are new but I’m very proud of everybody at Legacy Motor Club and the effort they put into this. It’s so fun to get out there and mix it up.”

Aric Almirola and Joey Logano, who won Thursday night’s 150-mile qualifying races, ended up fifth and sixth-fastest, respectively.

Rounding out the top-10 were Chase Briscoe, Kevin Harvick and Zane Smith.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Briscoe had the fastest average speed (192.001 mph). He was followed in that category by Logano, Bowman, Stenhouse and Almirola.

Read Also:

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	84	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	34	46.338			194.225
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	38	46.345	0.007	0.007	194.196
3	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	37	46.348	0.010	0.003	194.183
4	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	38	46.360	0.022	0.012	194.133
5	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	29	46.366	0.028	0.006	194.108
6	22	Joey Logano	Ford	36	46.369	0.031	0.003	194.095
7	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	34	46.373	0.035	0.004	194.078
8	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	27	46.392	0.054	0.019	193.999
9	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	17	46.408	0.070	0.016	193.932
10	36	Zane Smith	Ford	31	46.417	0.079	0.009	193.894
11	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	33	46.477	0.139	0.060	193.644
12	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	33	46.506	0.168	0.029	193.523
13	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	22	46.664	0.326	0.158	192.868
14	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	19	46.688	0.350	0.024	192.769
15	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	22	46.692	0.354	0.004	192.753
16	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	13	46.737	0.399	0.045	192.567
17	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	15	46.738	0.400	0.001	192.563
18	41	Ryan Preece	Ford	27	46.762	0.424	0.024	192.464
19	77	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	15	46.772	0.434	0.010	192.423
20	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	19	46.819	0.481	0.047	192.230
21	42	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	20	46.844	0.506	0.025	192.127
22	54	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	19	46.865	0.527	0.021	192.041
23	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	26	46.954	0.616	0.089	191.677
24	78	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	7	46.955	0.617	0.001	191.673
25	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	10	46.980	0.642	0.025	191.571
26	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	28	46.983	0.645	0.003	191.559
27	45	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	15	47.205	0.867	0.222	190.658
28	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	11	47.213	0.875	0.008	190.625
29	67	Travis Pastrana	Toyota	9	47.240	0.902	0.027	190.517
30	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	17	47.271	0.933	0.031	190.392
31	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	18	47.307	0.969	0.036	190.247
32	8	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	15	47.310	0.972	0.003	190.235
33	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	18	47.316	0.978	0.006	190.210
34	51	Cody Ware	Ford	19	47.375	1.037	0.059	189.974
35	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	9	47.913	1.575	0.538	187.840
36	50	Conor Daly	Chevrolet	28	48.304	1.966	0.391	186.320
37	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	17	49.297	2.959	0.993	182.567