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 |