RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series ran a practice session at Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening in preparation for the upcoming season-opening Daytona 500, which is scheduled for Sunday afternoon (although there is rain in the forecast).
Practice at large superspeedway tracks, such as Daytona and Talladega, typically doesn't mean much when it comes to predicting which cars will be fast during the race. These practice sessions are more for drivers to get a feel for how the car is going to race and make any small adjustments.
During the Duel races on Thursday night, we saw the Toyotas have plenty of race speed, and that was the case during this practice session as well. The eight fastest cars during this practice were all Toyotas.
Important Practice Notes
Chris Buescher - Chris Buescher did not participate in this practice session, as he flew home for the birth of his child. David Ragan got into Buscher's No. 17 Ford and logged some laps to shake it down and ensure nothing was wrong with it before the race.
Jimmie Johnson - The No. 84 team at Legacy Motor Club had to do plenty of repairs on Jimmie Johnson's Toyota after he was involved in a wreck during the Duel race on Thursday night, but Johnson noted during Friday's practice that he felt good about the repaired race car.
Anthony Alfredo - Of the 40 drivers in the Daytona 500, the only one who did not practice for a single lap on Friday was Anthony Alfredo. This was likely because the Beard Motorsports team did not want to risk their No. 62 Chevrolet getting any damage before the race.
2024 Daytona 500 Practice Speed Chart
Click here to download the PDF of the practice speed chart.
| Pos | Driver | Time | Speed | Fastest Lap | Laps Ran |
Behind Leader
|
| 1. | Denny Hamlin | 45.575 | 197.477 | 8 | 22 | ---.--- |
| 2. | Erik Jones | 45.577 | 197.468 | 8 | 19 | -0.002 |
| 3. | Christopher Bell | 45.586 | 197.429 | 8 | 17 | -0.011 |
| 4. | Ty Gibbs | 45.594 | 197.394 | 8 | 20 | -0.019 |
| 5. | John Hunter Nemechek | 45.598 | 197.377 | 8 | 18 | -0.023 |
| 6. | Tyler Reddick | 45.601 | 197.364 | 8 | 18 | -0.026 |
| 7. | Jimmie Johnson | 45.620 | 197.282 | 8 | 18 | -0.045 |
| 8. | Bubba Wallace | 45.656 | 197.126 | 8 | 19 | -0.081 |
| 9. | Michael McDowell | 46.256 | 194.569 | 7 | 17 | -0.681 |
| 10. | Austin Cindric | 46.267 | 194.523 | 7 | 19 | -0.692 |
| 11. | Todd Gilliland | 46.274 | 194.494 | 7 | 16 | -0.699 |
| 12. | Harrison Burton | 46.283 | 194.456 | 7 | 18 | -0.708 |
| 13. | Ryan Blaney | 46.307 | 194.355 | 7 | 22 | -0.732 |
| 14. | Joey Logano | 46.375 | 194.070 | 7 | 31 | -0.800 |
| 15. | Austin Dillon | 46.411 | 193.920 | 17 | 21 | -0.836 |
| 16. | Kyle Busch | 46.707 | 192.691 | 12 | 30 | -1.132 |
| 17. | William Byron | 46.728 | 192.604 | 9 | 25 | -1.153 |
| 18. | Chase Elliott | 46.733 | 192.583 | 9 | 25 | -1.158 |
| 19. | Kyle Larson | 46.746 | 192.530 | 11 | 27 | -1.171 |
| 20. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 46.753 | 192.501 | 3 | 16 | -1.178 |
| 21. | Justin Haley | 46.771 | 192.427 | 15 | 15 | -1.196 |
| 22. | Chase Briscoe | 46.787 | 192.361 | 12 | 26 | -1.212 |
| 23. | Alex Bowman | 46.788 | 192.357 | 10 | 27 | -1.213 |
| 24. | Josh Berry | 46.818 | 192.234 | 12 | 21 | -1.243 |
| 25. | Noah Gragson | 46.825 | 192.205 | 12 | 16 | -1.250 |
| 26. | David Ragan | 46.826 | 192.201 | 11 | 21 | -1.251 |
| 27. | Brad Keselowski | 46.831 | 192.180 | 11 | 22 | -1.256 |
| 28. | Riley Herbst | 47.376 | 189.970 | 2 | 18 | -1.801 |
| 29. | Zane Smith | 47.941 | 187.731 | 1 | 11 | -2.366 |
| 30. | AJ Allmendinger | 47.959 | 187.660 | 1 | 11 | -2.384 |
| 31. | Corey LaJoie | 48.507 | 185.540 | 4 | 5 | -2.932 |
| 32. | Daniel Hemric | 48.528 | 185.460 | 9 | 19 | -2.953 |
| 33. | Carson Hocevar | 48.716 | 184.744 | 7 | 9 | -3.141 |
| 34. | Ross Chastain | 49.070 | 183.411 | 4 | 14 | -3.495 |
| 35. | Daniel Suarez | 49.334 | 182.430 | 19 | 20 | -3.759 |
| 36. | Ryan Preece | 49.389 | 182.227 | 3 | 4 | -3.814 |
| 37. | Kaz Grala | 49.427 | 182.087 | 2 | 3 | -3.852 |
| 38. | Martin Truex Jr. | 49.667 | 181.207 | 3 | 4 | -4.092 |
| 39. | David Ragan | 49.709 | 181.054 | 3 | 4 | -4.134 |
2024 Daytona 500 10-Lap Average Chart
| Pos | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg Speed |
| 1 | Ryan Blaney | 3 | 12 | 192.030 |
| 2 | Austin Cindric | 2 | 11 | 192.009 |
| 3 | Harrison Burton | 2 | 11 | 192.006 |
| 4 | Todd Gilliland | 3 | 12 | 191.811 |
| 5 | Joey Logano | 3 | 12 | 191.760 |
| 6 | Michael McDowell | 3 | 12 | 191.683 |
| 7 | Ty Gibbs | 11 | 20 | 190.423 |
| 8 | Josh Berry | 3 | 12 | 190.363 |
| 9 | Chase Briscoe | 3 | 12 | 190.360 |
| 10 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | 20 | 190.333 |
| 11 | David Ragan | 2 | 11 | 190.169 |
| 12 | Noah Gragson | 3 | 12 | 190.168 |
| 13 | Brad Keselowski | 7 | 16 | 190.160 |
| 14 | Justin Haley | 6 | 15 | 190.070 |
| 15 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 1 | 10 | 189.887 |
| 16 | Alex Bowman | 8 | 17 | 189.887 |
| 17 | Kyle Larson | 10 | 19 | 189.870 |
| 18 | William Byron | 8 | 17 | 189.869 |
| 19 | Chase Elliott | 8 | 17 | 189.862 |
| 20 | Kyle Busch | 10 | 19 | 189.631 |
| 21 | AJ Allmendinger | 1 | 10 | 186.116 |
| 22 | Zane Smith | 1 | 10 | 186.039 |
| 23 | Daniel Suarez | 2 | 11 | 181.035 |
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