Daytona 500: Daniel Suarez completes sweep of Friday practices

Ryan Newman was second quick (202.945mph) followed by Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.

The drafting started immediately in the fourth practice session with 24 cars in the pack. Kyle Busch initially posted the top speed of 202.689mph with nine Fords in tow. Just after the 10-minute mark, Suarez posted the fastest lap of 203.179mph, Newman, McDowell, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Menard, Truex Jr., Kahne, Keselowski and Harvick rounded out the top 10.

William Byron led a draft of his four Hendrick Motorsports teammates—Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman—along with Kyle Larson 15 minutes into practice. Larson had the fastest speed (199.530mph) of the five Chevrolets but his time was just 19th quick. After completing 24 laps, Larson, Byron, Bowman and Elliott retreated to the garage.

“I definitely like that,” Byron said after completing the exercise.

Thirty minutes into the session, the only action was limited to single-lap runs. Keselowski, Blaney and Jamie McMurray ran laps.

Kasey Kahne, Bowman, Truex and Suarez waited on pit road for Johnson to return to the track for another draft. With 10 minutes to go, crew chief Chad Knaus released the No. 48 from the garage. The five cars worked on swapping the lead. Truex pulled off after six laps while the four remaining drivers continued. The pack passed Danica Patrick but she struggled to suck up to the back of the draft. After finally running in the group, she reported that her car was directionally better but the brakes pulled unevenly at times.

Johnson’s 42 laps were the most completed during the session.

Only 29 of 40 drivers participated in the 50-minute session.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	27	44.296			203.179
2	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	20	44.347	0.051	0.051	202.945
3	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	20	44.364	0.068	0.017	202.867
4	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	19	44.392	0.096	0.028	202.739
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	16	44.403	0.107	0.011	202.689
6	21	Paul Menard	Ford	10	44.421	0.125	0.018	202.607
7	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	24	44.447	0.151	0.026	202.488
8	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	23	44.457	0.161	0.010	202.443
9	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	25	44.573	0.277	0.116	201.916
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	19	44.591	0.295	0.018	201.834
11	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	20	44.600	0.304	0.009	201.794
12	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	20	44.604	0.308	0.004	201.776
13	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	19	44.610	0.314	0.006	201.748
14	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	28	44.614	0.318	0.004	201.730
15	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	5	44.629	0.333	0.015	201.663
16	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	13	44.720	0.424	0.091	201.252
17	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	17	44.726	0.430	0.006	201.225
18	00	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	9	45.089	0.793	0.363	199.605
19	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	24	45.106	0.810	0.017	199.530
20	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	24	45.113	0.817	0.007	199.499
21	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	34	45.120	0.824	0.007	199.468
22	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	24	45.120	0.824	0.000	199.468
23	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	42	45.121	0.825	0.001	199.464
24	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	14	45.328	1.032	0.207	198.553
25	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	6	46.364	2.068	1.036	194.116
26	22	Joey Logano	Ford	14	46.442	2.146	0.078	193.790
27	38	David Ragan	Ford	10	46.901	2.605	0.459	191.894
28	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	11	46.947	2.651	0.046	191.706
29	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	18	47.002	2.706	0.055	191.481