Joey Logano Leads Opening Daytona 500 Practice

Joey Logano led the opening practice session at Daytona

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Joey Logano posted the fastest speed to lead a strong Ford contingent in Saturday opening practice session for next Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500.

Logano turned a fast lap of 193.116 mph around the 2.5-mile oval to post the quickest speed among the 42 entries. Fellow Ford drivers Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski were second and third followed by Ryan Blaney in fifth. Kyle Larson was the lone Chevy in the top five, posting the fourth-quickest speed.

In all, seven of the top 10 positions sported the blue oval, giving Ford a strong showing in the first of five practice sessions leading up tomorrow’s qualifying sessions and Thursday’s Can-Am Duels qualifying races.

Despite the strong performance from the Ford camp, Logano said it was results o next Sunday that counted.

"So far it's been a couple good practices for Penske and Ford, and now we'll see how the races go," said Logano. "Practice is really just practice. There's really nothing to it there. We'll just have to keep tuning it in to make sure we're good in the races."

Although he’s a former Daytona 500 winner, Logano has never sat on the pole for the season-opening race, but the early results from today’s practice gives him a bit more optimism for Sunday’s qualifying.

"In all honesty, I've never been that fast in qualifying here in Daytona in my whole career. I feel like I've never had a shot at it, but now I feel like I'm closer than ever," said Logano. "I feel like I'm kind of in new territory, plus I think some of these other guys sandbag a lot , so tomorrow will be the telltale sign."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 11th-quickest on Saturday

Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 11^th quickest in his first return to Daytona since suffering a concussion last July that caused him to miss the remainder of the 2016 Cup season.

After turning his first laps in the opening practice session, Earnhardt, Jr. said it "felt good to just get out there" on the track.

"It felt good. I was, not really nervous, but today went really smooth," said Earnhardt, Jr. "Didn’t have any problems, so we just kind of got everything done we wanted to do and the guys will go to work and try to put together a good car for qualifying and hopefully we will get out there and get a good lap in."

Among the cars that need to race their way into the Daytona 500, Brendan Gaughan was quickest in 32^nd, followed by Regan Smith in 33^rd. Reed Sorenson, D.J. Kennington, Corey Lajoie and Timmy Hill claimed 38^th through 41^st, respectively while Jeffrey Earnhardt was the slowest entry in the 42^nd position.

PRACTICE RESULTS

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