Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Edition

Global Global
Practice report
NASCAR Cup Daytona II

Clint Bowyer leads Ford armada in first Cup practice at Daytona

Clint Bowyer led a Ford Performance sweep of the top-five positions in Thursday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona.

Clint Bowyer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Haas 30 Years of the VF1

With many of the Ford drivers working together later in the 55-minute session, Bowyer vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 200.799 mph.

Bowyer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Aric Almirola was second (200.691 mph) and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski was third (200.553 mph). Fellow Ford drivers Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.

“I think it’s your typical speedway, especially now that we’re getting down close to playoff time and the cutoff line is getting pretty close,” Blaney said. “There are people who really need to get stage points, stage wins and come down to the end of the race you really need a win.  

“There are a lot of great cars outside looking in are really close right now, but everybody is going to be trying really hard to win. These races are pretty insane and you never know what could happen.”

Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick (Fords) was sixth and seventh, respectively, and three Chevrolet drivers – A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott – rounded out the Top 10.

Elliott was competing Thursday with a sprained ankle. In a message Elliott posted on his Twitter account, Elliott said he sprained his ankle on Wednesday while “horsing around” by the pool. Elliott said his X-rays were negative.

The top Toyota driver was Denny Hamlin in 15th.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph
1 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 20 44.821     200.799
2 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 22 44.845 0.024 0.024 200.691
3 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 21 44.876 0.055 0.031 200.553
4 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 26 44.879 0.058 0.003 200.539
5 12 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 16 44.881 0.060 0.002 200.530
6 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 24 44.883 0.062 0.002 200.521
7 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 28 44.887 0.066 0.004 200.503
8 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 11 44.917 0.096 0.030 200.370
9 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 16 44.919 0.098 0.002 200.361
10 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 17 44.971 0.150 0.052 200.129
11 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 17 45.043 0.222 0.072 199.809
12 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 23 45.128 0.307 0.085 199.433
13 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 15 45.143 0.322 0.015 199.366
14 43 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 33 45.143 0.322 0.000 199.366
15 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 19 45.152 0.331 0.009 199.327
16 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 22 45.152 0.331 0.000 199.327
17 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 24 45.157 0.336 0.005 199.305
18 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 21 45.160 0.339 0.003 199.291
19 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 25 45.163 0.342 0.003 199.278
20 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 23 45.174 0.353 0.011 199.230
21 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 16 45.200 0.379 0.026 199.115
22 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 36 45.305 0.484 0.105 198.654
23 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 23 45.335 0.514 0.030 198.522
24 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 26 45.337 0.516 0.002 198.513
25 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 17 45.340 0.519 0.003 198.500
26 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 25 45.372 0.551 0.032 198.360
27 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 7 45.400 0.579 0.028 198.238
28 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 20 45.419 0.598 0.019 198.155
29 62 united_states Brendan Gaughan    8 45.482 0.661 0.063 197.880
30 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 16 45.572 0.751 0.090 197.490
31 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 17 46.066 1.245 0.494 195.372
32 72 united_states Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 16 46.682 1.861 0.616 192.794
33 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 16 47.462 2.641 0.780 189.625
34 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 11 47.652 2.831 0.190 188.869
35 7 united_states Jeffrey Earnhardt  Chevrolet 1 48.319 3.498 0.667 186.262
36 00 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 6 48.330 3.509 0.011 186.220
37 23 united_states J.J. Yeley  Toyota 14 48.418 3.597 0.088 185.881
38 96 canada D.J. Kennington  Toyota 3 48.442 3.621 0.024 185.789
39 92 united_states Timothy Peters  Ford 5 48.504 3.683 0.062 185.552
40 51 united_states Ray Black Jr. Chevrolet        

 

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article NASCAR Drive for Diversity female crew members ready for Daytona
Next article Stenhouse: "Tough conversations" held on Roush team performance

Top Comments

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Edition

Global Global