Practice report
NASCAR Cup Daytona 500
Brad Keselowski leads final Daytona 500 practice
Brad Keselowski topped the final pre-Daytona 500 practice session on Saturday as Fords claimed the top six speeds.
Jim Utter
Edited: Feb 19, 2023, 1:33 AM
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Keselowski, who will start sixth in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup season-opener, led the way with an average lap speed of 191.201 mph.
Only 17 of the 40 cars in the race elected to participate in Saturday’s final 50-minute session.
“We just keep dialing in our Ford,” Keselowski said. “You know, in the Duels, we weren’t where we wanted to be. I felt like we needed to work on this thing a little bit.
“So, we spent the last two practices – this one today and of course last night – working on some things and made some really good gains to have both the speed and the handling it’s going to take to win the 500.
“We made some really good gains and super-confident going into tomorrow.”
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, Nexlizet Ford Mustang
Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Reigning series champion Joey Logano ended up second-fastest (191.196 mph) and Ryan Blaney was third (191.180 mph). They were followed by Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe as Fords swept the top six spots on the speed chart.
Rounding out the top-10 were A.J Allmendinger, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and Riley Herbst.
No Toyotas elected to participate in the final session.
Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Preece had the best average speed (189.316 mph). Briscoe and Burton were second and third, respectively, in that category.
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Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 6 
Brad Keselowski Ford 14 47.071 191.201 2 22 Joey Logano Ford 26 47.072 0.001 0.001 191.196 3 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 17 47.076 0.005 0.004 191.180 4 41 Ryan Preece Ford 16 47.076 0.005 0.000 191.180 5 21 Harrison Burton Ford 27 47.077 0.006 0.001 191.176 6 14 Chase Briscoe Ford 28 47.105 0.034 0.028 191.063 7 16 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 25 47.167 0.096 0.062 190.811 8 31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 25 47.174 0.103 0.007 190.783 9 42 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 12 47.353 0.282 0.179 190.062 10 15 Riley Herbst Ford 23 47.358 0.287 0.005 190.042 11 36 Zane Smith Ford 22 47.367 0.296 0.009 190.006 12 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 10 48.062 0.991 0.695 187.258 13 50 Conor Daly Chevrolet 19 48.817 1.746 0.755 184.362 14 2 Austin Cindric Ford 12 49.922 2.851 1.105 180.281 15 84 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 3 50.417 3.346 0.495 178.511 16 38 Todd Gilliland Ford 3 50.539 3.468 0.122 178.080
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