After several days of on-track activity for the NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway, the build-up to Sunday’s 67th-annual DAYTONA 500 is finally complete.
With the completion of Saturday’s 50-minute practice session, all of the pre-race on-track time has officially wrapped up, and all that’s left is the green flag to drop on 200 laps of action.
Brad Keselowski was able to top the speed charts in the third and final practice session for the NASCAR Cup Series vehicles, posting a quick time of 46.558 seconds (193.307mph) in his No. 6 Kroger / Cottonelle Ford Mustang.
The RFK Racing driver and co-owner was one of several drivers who managed to get linked up and form a multi-car draft in the session, logging a total of 28 laps in his backup car, after being involved in a late-race wreck in Duel #2.
Alex Bowman was the second fastest driver in the practice session, only eight one-thousandths of a second slower than Keselowski. Haas Factory Team driver Cole Custer, an RFK Racing alliance team, placed third in the session.
In fourth, Justin Allgaier continued to show pace in his No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet, completing several laps for JR Motorsports before the organization rolls onto the NASCAR Cup Series grid for the first time on Sunday.
2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, also in a backup car, was fifth-quickest in the session.
Corey LaJoie, who similar to Allgaier and JR Motorsports, raced his way into the DAYTONA 500 via his sixth-place result in Duel #2, was sixth-quickest in final practice.
Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Chris Buescher, and Zane Smith completed the top-10.
