Kyle Busch leads opening Daytona Cup practice

Busch posted a lap of of 197.438-mph followed by the Fords of Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Trevor Bayne and defending Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch.

Kyle Larson was the first driver on the track. He ran laps with his Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray. But the Fords showed strength early in the draft. In the first 10 minutes, seven cars combined to push Brad Keselowski to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 197.230mph. Harvick was second with a lap of 197.200mph. Logano, Blaney, Stenhouse Jr., Bayne, Kurt Busch, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 10 speeds.

Thirty minutes into the session, the Toyotas were aligned with Hamlin (11th) holding the fastest lap followed by Kenseth, Truex, Suarez and Kyle Busch. Paul Menard (ninth, 195.580mph) broke into the top 10 with an assist from Ty Dillon (10th) as the Chevys ganged up together. With 20 minutes remaining, Matt DiBenedetto jumped up to seventh (197.148mph).

Kyle Busch, who is sans his primary and back-up crew chiefs due to not securing lug nuts at Dover and Sonoma, respectively, broke up the Ford party a minute later with a speed of 197.438mph. Keselowski, Harvick, Logano and Blaney completed the top-five speeds.

Ty Dillon’s 37 circuits were the most laps completed during the first of two 55-minute sessions. He was 11th quick.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is making his final start at Daytona in the No. 88 Chevy with Hendrick Motorsports, posted the 19th-fastest lap.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	19	45.584			197.438
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	22	45.632	0.048	0.048	197.230
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	14	45.639	0.055	0.007	197.200
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	25	45.647	0.063	0.008	197.165
5	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	14	45.647	0.063	0.000	197.165
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	17	45.648	0.064	0.001	197.161
7	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	13	45.651	0.067	0.003	197.148
8	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	26	45.655	0.071	0.004	197.131
9	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	18	45.660	0.076	0.005	197.109
10	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	20	45.662	0.078	0.002	197.100
11	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	37	45.844	0.260	0.182	196.318
12	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Ford	32	45.855	0.271	0.011	196.271
13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	31	45.895	0.311	0.040	196.100
14	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	25	45.950	0.366	0.055	195.865
15	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	17	45.958	0.374	0.008	195.831
16	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	22	45.995	0.411	0.037	195.673
17	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	24	46.017	0.433	0.022	195.580
18	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	15	46.026	0.442	0.009	195.542
19	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	26	46.080	0.496	0.054	195.312
20	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	19	46.102	0.518	0.022	195.219
21	38	David Ragan	Ford	19	46.142	0.558	0.040	195.050
22	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	20	46.161	0.577	0.019	194.970
23	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	12	46.175	0.591	0.014	194.911
24	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	29	46.227	0.643	0.052	194.691
25	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	28	46.275	0.691	0.048	194.489
26	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	26	46.285	0.701	0.010	194.447
27	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	16	46.387	0.803	0.102	194.020
28	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	22	46.547	0.963	0.160	193.353
29	7	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	11	46.729	1.145	0.182	192.600
30	75	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	14	46.741	1.157	0.012	192.550
31	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	20	46.766	1.182	0.025	192.448
32	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	16	47.313	1.729	0.547	190.223
33	83	Ryan Sieg	Toyota	9	47.449	1.865	0.136	189.677
34	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	17	47.620	2.036	0.171	188.996
35	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	13	47.671	2.087	0.051	188.794
36	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	13	47.844	2.260	0.173	188.111
37	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	11	48.156	2.572	0.312	186.893
38	15	DJ Kennington	Chevrolet	3	48.332	2.748	0.176	186.212
39	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	1	48.704	3.120	0.372	184.790
40	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	9	49.191	3.607	0.487	182.960