Practice report

NASCAR Cup Daytona II

Kyle Busch leads opening Daytona Cup practice

Kyle Busch topped the speed chart in first practice for the Coke Zero 400 on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Jun 29, 2017, 8:31 PM

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Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

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#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 18 united_states 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 united_states 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 united_states 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 mexico 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 united_states 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 united_states 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 united_states 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 united_states 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 united_states A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 11 48.156 2.572 0.312 186.893 38 15 canada 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

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