Ty Dillon paces field in Xfinity Daytona practice

The NASCAR Xfinity Series conducted its first practice session of the year on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway. By the end of the 50-minute session, Ty Dillon led the way with a lap time of 46.691 at 192.757 mph. It was the series’ first practice since last July for the Pennzoil 150 on the Indianapolis road course.

It has been less than a day since Dillon and Gaunt Brothers Racing failed to qualify for Sunday’s Daytona 500 after a heartbreaking DNQ in his Bluegreen Vacations Duel on Thursday night. However, he will still get a chance to run a race during the weekend as he joined Joe Gibbs Racing‘s #54 for a four-round Xfinity schedule. Dillon also declared for Xfinity points for the first time since his final full-time season in the series in 2016.

“Felt good to get back on track in the NASCAR Xfinity Series,” Dillon posted on social media. “The Bass Pro Shops Toyota Supra has some speed and looks great!”

Riley Herbst, a former JGR driver who migrated to Stewart-Haas Racing‘s #98 for the 2021 season, was the second fastest at 46.756 seconds. Reigning champ Austin Cindric, who made the 500 at Dillon’s expense, was third ahead of rookie Josh Berry, the latter of whom was the quickest Chevrolet. Josh Williams did not set a time after his car stalled.

Similar to the Cup and Camping World Truck Series‘ sessions, the Xfinity practice saw a mixture of strategies as some teams worked on their drafting while others focused on single-car runs for qualifying. Unlike the other two national series, the results varied with few team-mates and drivers with mutual manufacturers next to each other.

Qualifying will take place on Saturday morning while the race is scheduled for the evening. Forty-five drivers are entered, and all but nine will make the race as fields for races with qualifying will be maxed out at thirty-six; those without the session will have forty at the most.

Practice results