It’s been a long week in Daytona International Speedway with three practice sessions, single-car qualifying, and a pair of qualifying races, but now it’s game time. All that remains for the NASCAR Cup Series is the 68th Running of the DAYTONA 500.
The final 50-minute practice session before ‘The Great American Race’ on Sunday didn’t see a ton of action, as only 18 drivers — less than half of the starting field — chose to take to the racetrack and get better acclimated to their racecars ahead of the season-opening event.
Ryan Preece led the way in his newly-repaired No. 60 Kroger / Viva Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, leading his teammates Chris Buescher (in a backup car) and Brad Keselowski, just like the trio did in the America 250 Florida Duels on Thursday.
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Posting a lap time of 46.676 seconds allowed the Cook Out Clash winner to hold the lead in the session by eight one-thousandths of a second over Buescher. The three drivers out of the RFK Racing stable, plus the two former champions out of the Team Penske stable, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, all got together in a five-car draft to post those personal-best times.
Ross Chastain was sixth-quickest in the practice session with a line of Chevrolets behind him on the speed charts, including America 250 Florida Duel #2 winner Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, BJ McLeod (who found himself some sponsorship between Thursday’s unexpected promotion into the race and Saturday’s final practice), and Cody Ware.
Cole Custer, Ty Dillon, William Byron, Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Casey Mears, and Jimmie Johnson were the only other drivers that elected to post a lap time in the final practice of the weekend from Daytona, and the final NASCAR Cup Series practice on a superspeedway for 2026.
