Practice report
NASCAR Cup Daytona 500
Daytona 500: Daniel Suarez leads Toyota trio in first Friday practice
Daniel Suarez led the third practice session for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Feb 16, 2018, 7:55 PM
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Suarez’s top time was 45.036-seconds (199.840mph) followed by the Toyotas of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. David Ragan, Danica Patrick, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Brendan Gaughan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Marks completed the top 10 speeds.
Team Penske topped the chart early in the 50-minute session with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski leading the session.
Keselowski completed 19 laps in his back up car with a top speed of 193.482mph. He wrecked the primary following contact with Jamie McMurray in the Duel on Thursday. Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, William Byron, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson and David Gilliland also shook down their backup cars.
Logano’s best of four laps in his initial run was 195.844mph. Johnson debuted his new car but was only 16th-quick after three laps. Eight minutes in, defending Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch moved up to second with a top speed of 192.282mph after four laps, but then the shuffling began.
After the first 10 minutes, Denny Hamlin moved to the top (198.706mph) followed by Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez as the Joe Gibbs Toyotas started drafting. Martin Truex Jr., joined the run and moved up to third (199.694mph) just after Suarez (199.840mph) vaulted to P1. David Ragan, Danica Patrick, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Brendan Gaughan, Justin Marks and Trevor Bayne completed the top 10 speeds.
Thirty-one drivers had posted times by the 20-minute mark. Suarez maintained the fastest speed and Hamlin’s 17 laps were the most completed.
Thirty minutes into the session, Austin Dillon broke into the top 10 with a lap of 197.455mph followed by Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Alex Bowman, Bayne, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson Kurt Busch and Logano.
Patrick, Gaulding, McDowell, Ragan, Allmendinger, Gaughan and Mark Thompson’s session ended 15-minutes early after being late to inspection.
With 10 minutes remaining, Stenhouse popped up to ninth (198.325mph). Kyle Busch’s 28 laps were the most completed to that point and 36 drivers participated in the 50-minute exercise.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 23 45.036 199.840 2 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 27 45.058 0.022 0.022 199.743 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 14 45.069 0.033 0.011 199.694 4 38 David Ragan Ford 17 45.079 0.043 0.010 199.650 5 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 14 45.134 0.098 0.055 199.406 6 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 11 45.136 0.100 0.002 199.397 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 28 45.180 0.144 0.044 199.203 8 62 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 8 45.190 0.154 0.010 199.159 9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 15 45.380 0.344 0.190 198.325 10 51 Justin Marks Chevrolet 22 45.385 0.349 0.005 198.303 11 00 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 16 45.561 0.525 0.176 197.537 12 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 15 45.580 0.544 0.019 197.455 13 24 William Byron Chevrolet 8 45.581 0.545 0.001 197.451 14 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 5 45.604 0.568 0.023 197.351 15 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 22 45.606 0.570 0.002 197.342 16 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 7 45.636 0.600 0.030 197.213 17 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 10 45.654 0.618 0.018 197.135 18 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 18 45.750 0.714 0.096 196.721 19 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 6 45.813 0.777 0.063 196.451 20 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 25 45.821 0.785 0.008 196.416 21 34 Michael McDowell Ford 12 45.887 0.851 0.066 196.134 22 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 10 45.920 0.884 0.033 195.993 23 41 Kurt Busch Ford 17 46.378 1.342 0.458 194.058 24 22 Joey Logano Ford 15 46.425 1.389 0.047 193.861 25 21 Paul Menard Ford 11 46.510 1.474 0.085 193.507 26 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 19 46.516 1.480 0.006 193.482 27 10 Aric Almirola Ford 16 46.621 1.585 0.105 193.046 28 96 
D.J. Kennington Toyota 13 46.693 1.657 0.072 192.748 29 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 8 46.819 1.783 0.126 192.230 30 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 12 46.819 1.783 0.000 192.230 31 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 11 46.881 1.845 0.062 191.975 32 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 15 46.886 1.850 0.005 191.955 33 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 11 46.906 1.870 0.020 191.873 34 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 13 47.381 2.345 0.475 189.950 35 66 Mark Thompson Ford 6 48.314 3.278 0.933 186.281 36 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 9 48.598 3.562 0.284 185.193
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