NASCAR: Fords dominate final Daytona 500 practice, appear to be a lock for the 500

The Wood Brothers crew apparently did an admirable job repairing the No. 21 Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton.

The car was damaged on the final lap of Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel 150-mile qualifying race, when Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford spun in front of Burton’s Mustang. The No. 21 nosed into Logano’s car, but the team opted to repair the car, rather than go to a backup.

Shaking down his car in Saturday’s final practice, Burton led a contingent of Ford drivers to the top eight positions on the speed chart. Burton negotiated 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 47.782 seconds (188.355 mph), edging Logano (who was in a backup car) by .008 seconds.

Only 20 of the 40 drivers who will start the Sunday’s Daytona 500 participated in the session. The entire cadre of Toyotas skipped the session, as did Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, who won their respective Duels on Thursday.

Final Practice Results

Pos No. Driver Team Time Speed Behind
1 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford 47.782 188.355 —.—
2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 47.79 188.324 -0.008s
3 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 47.805 188.265 -0.023s
4 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light #BUSCHRACETEAM Ford 47.807 188.257 -0.025s
5 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 47.814 188.229 -0.032s
6 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford 47.827 188.178 -0.045s
7 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 47.839 188.131 -0.057s
8 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 47.839 188.131 -0.057s
9 16 Daniel Hemric Heritage Pool Supply Group Chevrolet 48.447 185.77 -0.665s
10 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 48.457 185.732 -0.675s
11 77 Landon Cassill FOX Nation Chevrolet 48.465 185.701 -0.683s
12 24 William Byron Jr. Axalta Chevrolet 48.833 184.302 -1.051s
13 *50 Kaz Grala Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet 49.186 182.979 -1.404s
14 42 Ty Dillon Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet 49.318 182.489 -1.536s
15 78 BJ McLeod NASCAR Ignition Ford 49.5 181.818 -1.718s
16 38 Todd Gilliland First Phase Credit Card Ford 50.02 179.928 -2.238s
17 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 50.029 179.896 -2.247s
18 *44 Greg Biffle(i) Grambling State University Chevrolet 50.077 179.723 -2.295s
19 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 50.214 179.233 -2.432s
20 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 0 0 0