Joe Gibbs Toyotas to front in Daytona 500 practice 3
 |
| Kyle Busch |
Joe Gibbs Racing dominated Friday’s third Daytona 500 practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Kyle Busch jumped on top with a fast lap speed of 200.285 mph in the No. 18 M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota. Martin Truex Jr. followed in second with a lap of 200.200 in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota.
JGR teammate Erik Jones finished the session in fourth with the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota (200.156 mph) and their stablemate Denny Hamlin capped off the JGR group in seventh (200.044 mph) in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota, putting all of the Toyotas in the top 10.
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Preece practiced for 17 laps in his No. 47 Kroger.com Chevrolet and finished the practice session in third. He ran a best lap speed of 200.169 mph. This is Preece’s first Daytona 500.
Busch was also near the top of the leaderboard in the first Daytona 500 practice session last Saturday, when he finished in second behind Truex with a best speed of 195.852.
The 2015 champion was involved in an incident on Lap 35 of the Gander RV Duel No. 2 with Jimmie Johnson on Thursday night, where his left-rear quarter panel was clipped by the right-front bumper of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet. Busch went for a spin down the backstretch but was able to avoid more damage.
He will start 31st on Sunday for the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Final Daytona 500 practice for the Cup series is at 3:05 p.m. ET on FS1.
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Time | Speed | Behind |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota | 44.936 | 200.285 | —.— |
| 2 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 44.955 | 200.200 | -0.019s |
| 3 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Kroger.com Chevrolet | 44.962 | 200.169 | -0.026 |
| 4 | 20 | Erik Jones | Sport Clips Toyota | 44.965 | 200.156 | -0.029 |
| 5 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Ford | 44.979 | 200.093 | -0.043 |
| 6 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Procore Toyota | 44.982 | 200.080 | -0.046 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Express Toyota | 44.990 | 200.044 | -0.054 |
| 8 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | Aftershokz Chevrolet | 45.084 | 199.627 | -0.148 |
| 9 | 38 | David Ragan | Select Blinds Ford | 45.159 | 199.296 | -0.223 |
| 10 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 45.179 | 199.208 | -0.243 |
| 11 | 13 | Ty Dillon | GEICO Chevrolet | 45.242 | 198.930 | -0.306 |
| 12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Ally Chevrolet | 45.244 | 198.921 | -0.308 |
| 13 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 45.309 | 198.636 | -0.373 |
| 14 | *62 | Brendan Gaughan(i) | Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Chevy | 45.338 | 198.509 | -0.402 |
| 15 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Bass Pro Shops/Caterpillar Chevrolet | 45.392 | 198.273 | -0.456 |
| 16 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 45.397 | 198.251 | -0.461 |
| 17 | *31 | Tyler Reddick(i) | Symbicort Chevrolet | 45.404 | 198.220 | -0.468 |
| 18 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Dow Chevrolet | 45.411 | 198.190 | -0.475 |
| 19 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Ford | 45.460 | 197.976 | -0.524 |
| 20 | *27 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 45.586 | 197.429 | -0.650 |
| 21 | *96 | Parker Kligerman(i) | Gaunt Brothers Racing/Toyota Toyota | 45.820 | 196.421 | -0.884 |
| 22 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Kleenex Wet Wipes Chevrolet | 46.203 | 194.793 | -1.267 |
| 23 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Nationwide Chevrolet | 46.617 | 193.063 | -1.681 |
| 24 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 46.660 | 192.885 | -1.724 |
| 25 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 46.716 | 192.653 | -1.780 |
| 26 | 00 | Landon Cassill | PERMATEX Chevrolet | 46.894 | 191.922 | -1.958 |
| 27 | 40 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald's/Cessna/Bass Pro Shops Chevy | 46.953 | 191.681 | -2.017 |
| 28 | 36 | Matt Tifft # | Speedco Ford | 46.993 | 191.518 | -2.057 |
| 29 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Haas Automation Ford | 46.999 | 191.493 | -2.063 |
| 30 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Discount Tire Ford | 47.013 | 191.436 | -2.077 |
| 31 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy Chevrolet | 47.207 | 190.650 | -2.271 |
| 32 | 21 | Paul Menard | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire Ford | 47.261 | 190.432 | -2.325 |
| 33 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Peak Ford | 47.322 | 190.186 | -2.386 |
| 34 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Fastenal Ford | 47.353 | 190.062 | -2.417 |
| 35 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Credit One Bank Chevrolet | 47.486 | 189.530 | -2.550 |
| 36 | 32 | Corey LaJoie | Old Spice Ford | 47.818 | 188.214 | -2.882 |
# DENOTES ROOKIE
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME