Bubba Wallace leads Toyotas, Daytona 500 opening practice in Cup Series’ first session since pre-COVID

For the first time since March 2020, the NASCAR Cup Series practiced. On Wednesday, hours before Daytona 500 qualifying, the field participated in the first of three practices scheduled for the week. By the end of the hour-long session, Bubba Wallace was the fastest of forty-four drivers as he led a contingent of Toyota members.

Wallace, driving for the newly-formed 23XI Racing, posted a fastest lap time of 45.057 seconds and speed of 199.747 mph. Following behind him were the drivers from 23XI ally Joe Gibbs Racing, with Martin Truex Jr.—who signed a contract extension earlier in the day—right behind at 45.069 seconds and 199.694. Denny Hamlin, Tuesday’s Busch Clash winner Kyle Busch, and JGR Cup newcomer Christopher Bell tailed.

Jamie McMurray, who is running the 500 in a one-off, was the fastest non-JGR driver as he and Spire Motorsports team-mate Corey LaJoie placed their Chevrolets in sixth and seventh. Michael McDowell led the Fords in eighth.

In the middle of the field were the Hendrick Motorsports drivers, who focused on making single-car runs instead of drafting like the others; Hendrick has dominated Daytona 500 qualifying, which uses a single-car format, in recent years. The newly-reinstated Kyle Larson was the fastest of the four in twenty-second with 2018 500 pole winner Alex Bowman behind him. William Byron, who won the 2019 pole, was twenty-sixth while 2016 and 2017 pole-sitter Chase Elliott was twenty-ninth.

Erik Jones was one of twenty-one drivers to record fewer than ten practice laps, and he would have the best time of the bunch in eleventh overall on eight laps completed. Kaz Grala, attempting to make his first 500, waited until late in the session before hitting the track and only turned a single lap. B.J. McLeod was also one of the last drivers to practice.

Daytona 500 qualifying will take place on Wednesday night. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who drives for Hendrick ally JTG Daugherty Racing and was twenty-first in practice, hopes to earn his second straight pole in the race. His team-mate Ryan Preece was the fastest of the eight non-chartered cars that have to qualify or race their ways into the 500 in nineteenth.

Two more practices will take place on Saturday. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, practices and qualifying have become rare for NASCAR as the sanctioning body emphasised condensed race weekend schedules. Wednesday’s 500 practice was the first for the Cup Series since the final practice at Phoenix on 6 March 2020. Besides the 500, seven other Cup dates will also conduct practice and qualifying.

Practice results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Best Time	Best Speed (mph)	Laps
1	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	45.057	199.747	20
2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	45.069	199.694	19
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	45.070	199.689	20
4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	45.084	199.627	19
5	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	45.085	199.623	22
6	77	Jamie McMurray	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	45.145	199.358	13
7	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	45.190	199.159	12
8	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	45.236	198.957	14
9	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	45.307	198.645	11
10	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	45.387	198.295	15
11	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	45.413	198.181	8
12	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	45.427	198.12	11
13	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	45.489	197.85	13
14	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	45.498	197.811	9
15	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	45.500	197.802	13
16	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	45.516	197.733	15
17	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	45.580	197.455	9
18	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	46.237	194.649	12
19	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	46.256	194.569	11
20	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	46.373	194.078	10
21	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	46.897	191.91	6
22	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	47.279	190.359	13
23	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	47.465	189.613	8
24	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	47.489	189.518	5
25	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	47.575	189.175	11
26	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	47.599	189.08	8
27	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	47.602	189.068	12
28	96	Ty Dillon*	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	46.611	189.032	6
29	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	47.680	188.758	11
30	16	Kaz Grala	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	47.781	188.359	1
31	36	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	47.803	188.273	5
32	33	Austin Cindric*	Team Penske	Ford	47.828	188.174	7
33	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	47.944	187.719	12
34	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	47.981	187.574	10
35	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	48.010	187.451	8
36	62	Noah Gragson*	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	48.318	186.266	4
37	13	Garrett Smithley*	MBM Motorsports	Ford	48.350	186.143	4
38	66	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Ford	48.352	186.135	5
39	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	48.370	186.066	4
40	15	Derrike Cope	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	48.817	184.362	9
41	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	50.160	179.426	5
42	53	Joey Gase	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	50.201	179.279	5
43	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	50.736	177.389	3
44	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	50.821	177.092	2