After Thursday’s Duels at Daytona International Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series was back on the racetrack Friday, with knowledge of which 40 drivers will compete in Sunday’s 67th-annual DAYTONA 500.
Though, as is typical for practice sessions on the superspeedways (when they occur), there were a number of different agendas among the teams that chose to participate.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott hit the racetrack early in the practice session with some other Chevrolet-affiliated teams to get an idea of what their vehicles would do in the draft.
Those laps in the multi-car draft launched the defending DAYTONA 500 winner to the top of the speed charts, with Byron laying down a staggering 46.172-second lap time (equivalent to an average speed of 194.923mph).
RESULTS: DAYTONA 500 Practice #2
Chase Elliott, seven-time winner of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award, ranked second in the session, and even after an early caution for debris, went back out on the racetrack in a draft again, to log more laps with his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet.
Also in those two multi-vehicle drafts were last Fall’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who ended up posting the third-quickest time in the session, less than a tenth of a second off the chart-topper set by Byron.
Richard Childress Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon also tagged onto that draft, and completed the top-five on the scoring pylon at the end of the 50-minute session.
Zane Smith ranked sixth, perfectly executing his plan of getting the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse back on the racetrack, after a major impact to the SAFER Barrier in Turn 1 on the third lap of Thursday’s first Duel at Daytona.
Todd Gilliland, his Front Row Motorsports teammate, hit the racetrack with Smith and ranked seventh. Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano was eighth, with Kyle Larson, in a backup car, in ninth. Ryan Blaney completed the top-10.
2025 DAYTONA 500 polesitter Chase Briscoe took his No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE onto the racetrack during the practice session, as well, running in the draft and clocking in 16th, just to make sure things were alright with his Joe Gibbs Racing entry.
The concern comes after Thursday’s Duel, when Briscoe, who had chosen to drop out of the hustle and bustle of the lead draft, smacked a piece of debris on the racetrack, essentially destroying the front-end of the Toyota.
However, Briscoe says his No. 19 team was able to make repairs, preserving his spot on the pole for Sunday’s crown jewel event.
Of the 40 drivers who qualified for ‘The Great American Race’, only 30 of them chose to take time in this practice session. Those who didn’t include: Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, Cody Ware, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Shane Van Gisbergen, Helio Castroneves, and Daniel Suarez.
The NASCAR Cup Series will have one final practice session before the start of the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday. That session will take place at 3:05 PM ET on FS2, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
