Daytona 500 NASCAR Practice #1 Notes

Overall Practice Note: This session was mixed between drivers doing single car runs and drivers doing drafting. Drivers who focused on drafting were artificially higher on the speed chart.

Hendrick Cars – Hendrick cars focused on single car runs this session. They are always top contenders to win the pole for the Daytona 500. Five minutes into practice they ranked 24th Elliott, 25th Byron and 26th Bowman (Other drivers were drafting so they were artificially faster). When Larson went out to the track shortly after them, he was around the same speed range.

Toyota Cars – Early in practice, JGR cars and Bubba Wallace worked together in the draft. Christopher Bell was leading the pack early. They took turns rotating to the lead. They ended the session 1-5 on the speed chart.

Ford Cars – Early in practice, Joey Logano was leading a pack of Fords. Others in his pack were Harvick, Briscoe, DiBenedetto, Custer and Almirola.

Bubba Wallace – He was running at the back of the JGR pack which allowed him to run his quick lap time. He reported that his car was a little tight. 20 minutes into practice he said, “I’ve got to change some shit inside here on the dash.” He ended the session at the top of the speed chart.