Martin Truex Jr. leads first Daytona 500 practice session
Martin Truex Jr., who has never won a NASCAR Cup race at Daytona or Talladega, was fastest in Saturday’s first practice for the Daytona 500.
Truex sent his session-best lap speed of 195.920 mph late in the session while running together with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Erik Jones.
Busch ended up second-fastest (195.852 mph) and Jones third (195.793 mph). Tyler Reddick was fourth and Ty Dillon completed the top-five.
Ryan Newman ended up sixth, Daniel Hemric seventh, Matt DiBenedetto eighth, Alex Bowman ninth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10.
All 42 cars entered in the race made at least one lap. Kurt Busch completed the most laps (18).
There were no incidents in the 50-minute session.
| Cla | # | Driver | 4506 | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 |  Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota | 16 | 45.937 | 195.920 | ||
| 2 | 18 |  Kyle Busch |
Toyota | 14 | 45.953 | 0.016 | 0.016 | 195.852 |
| 3 | 20 | Erik Jones |
Toyota | 17 | 45.967 | 0.030 | 0.014 | 195.793 |
| 4 | 31 | Tyler Reddick |
Chevrolet | 17 | 46.369 | 0.432 | 0.402 | 194.095 |
| 5 | 13 |  Ty Dillon |
Chevrolet | 15 | 46.384 | 0.447 | 0.015 | 194.032 |
| 6 | 62 |  Brendan Gaughan |
Chevrolet | 6 | 46.386 | 0.449 | 0.002 | 194.024 |
| 7 | 8 |  Daniel Hemric |
Chevrolet | 16 | 46.409 | 0.472 | 0.023 | 193.928 |
| 8 | 95 |  Matt DiBenedetto |
Toyota | 14 | 46.494 | 0.557 | 0.085 | 193.573 |
| 9 | 88 |  Alex Bowman |
Chevrolet | 9 | 46.613 | 0.676 | 0.119 | 193.079 |
| 10 | 34 |  Michael McDowell |
Ford | 6 | 46.688 | 0.751 | 0.075 | 192.769 |
| 11 | 96 | Parker Kligerman |
Toyota | 13 | 46.829 | 0.892 | 0.141 | 192.189 |
| 12 | 24 | William Byron |
Chevrolet | 3 | 46.873 | 0.936 | 0.044 | 192.008 |
| 13 | 14 | Clint Bowyer |
Ford | 10 | 46.964 | 1.027 | 0.091 | 191.636 |
| 14 | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
Ford | 11 | 47.029 | 1.092 | 0.065 | 191.371 |
| 15 | 37 | Chris Buescher |
Chevrolet | 9 | 47.116 | 1.179 | 0.087 | 191.018 |
| 16 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
Toyota | 7 | 47.163 | 1.226 | 0.047 | 190.828 |
| 17 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet | 9 | 47.185 | 1.248 | 0.022 | 190.739 |
| 18 | 9 | Chase Elliott |
Chevrolet | 9 | 47.242 | 1.305 | 0.057 | 190.508 |
| 19 | 27 | Casey Mears |
Chevrolet | 7 | 47.271 | 1.334 | 0.029 | 190.392 |
| 20 | 42 | Kyle Larson |
Chevrolet | 16 | 47.280 | 1.343 | 0.009 | 190.355 |
| 21 | 22 | Joey Logano |
Ford | 13 | 47.287 | 1.350 | 0.007 | 190.327 |
| 22 | 21 | Paul Menard |
Ford | 3 | 47.362 | 1.425 | 0.075 | 190.026 |
| 23 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
Ford | 11 | 47.377 | 1.440 | 0.015 | 189.966 |
| 24 | 71 | Ryan Truex |
Chevrolet | 14 | 47.440 | 1.503 | 0.063 | 189.713 |
| 25 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
Ford | 6 | 47.506 | 1.569 | 0.066 | 189.450 |
| 26 | 6 | Ryan Newman |
Ford | 7 | 47.537 | 1.600 | 0.031 | 189.326 |
| 27 | 40 | Jamie McMurray |
Chevrolet | 6 | 47.619 | 1.682 | 0.082 | 189.000 |
| 28 | 47 | Ryan Preece |
Chevrolet | 11 | 47.620 | 1.683 | 0.001 | 188.996 |
| 29 | 38 |  David Ragan |
Ford | 6 | 47.631 | 1.694 | 0.011 | 188.953 |
| 30 | 3 | Austin Dillon |
Chevrolet | 10 | 47.671 | 1.734 | 0.040 | 188.794 |
| 31 | 10 | Aric Almirola |
Ford | 7 | 47.675 | 1.738 | 0.004 | 188.778 |
| 32 | 41 |  Daniel Suarez |
Ford | 9 | 47.779 | 1.842 | 0.104 | 188.367 |
| 33 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
Ford | 9 | 47.790 | 1.853 | 0.011 | 188.324 |
| 34 | 1 | Kurt Busch |
Chevrolet | 18 | 47.840 | 1.903 | 0.050 | 188.127 |
| 35 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. |
Chevrolet | 7 | 48.041 | 2.104 | 0.201 | 187.340 |
| 36 | 32 | Corey Lajoie |
Ford | 11 | 48.170 | 2.233 | 0.129 | 186.838 |
| 37 | 36 | Matt Tifft |
Ford | 5 | 48.311 | 2.374 | 0.141 | 186.293 |
| 38 | 15 | Ross Chastain |
Chevrolet | 1 | 48.316 | 2.379 | 0.005 | 186.274 |
| 39 | 00 | Landon Cassill |
Chevrolet | 6 | 48.387 | 2.450 | 0.071 | 186.000 |
| 40 | 52 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 2 | 49.171 | 3.234 | 0.784 | 183.035 |
| 41 | 51 | B.J. McLeod |
Chevrolet | 5 | 49.578 | 3.641 | 0.407 | 181.532 |
| 42 | 66 | Joey Gase |
Toyota | 7 | 50.142 | 4.205 | 0.564 | 179.490 |
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