On Friday in the NASCAR XFINITY Series practice sessions, the Chevrolet’s led by Ty Dillon were fastest in the opening practice. The first practice looked to be the drafting practice as right off the bat teams were two and even three wide, five rows deep.
The No. 3 car posted a lap in the draft at 192.526 mph, over a tenth of a second quicker than his nearest competition Blake Koch, who is also driving Richard Childress Racing equipment this season for Kaulig Racing.
Fellow RCR teammate Austin Dillon was third quickest, with Kasey Kahne who is driving the No. 5 car for JR Motorsports was fourth. Joey Logano was the first non-Chevrolet driver and rounded out the top five in the opening practice.
Bobby Labonte who is returning to Joe Gibbs Racing and the XFINITY Series for a one-race deal was sixth quickest. Other drivers in the top 10 included Kyle Larson, Brendan Gaughan, Erik Jones and David Starr.
Roughly 15 minutes into the practice session, Darrell Wallace, Jr. spun, overcorrected his Ford and slammed the outside wall. The team decided that the damage was too severe and went to a backup car, starting off the season in a hole.
The rest of opening practice was uneventful other than more three-wide racing.
During the second practice session, Starr turned the quickest speed at 183.516 mph. This particular session saw different names atop the leader board as the top drivers in the series ran single car runs preparing for qualifying on Saturday morning.
RCR driver Brandon Jones was second quickest with Joe Nemechek in his return to the XFINITY Series post the third fastest lap. Ryan Preece was fourth and Benny Gordon, whom runs well on restrictor plate tracks, rounded out the top five.
From positions six to 16th saw some of the bigger teams run as they got their drafting out of the way in the first practice session. Dillon was seventh, Labonte eighth, Jones ninth and Kahne 13th.
In the backup car Wallace was only able to post the 28th quickest time in the second practice session, leading to disappointment heading into Saturday.
Though qualifying means nothing at Daytona, it is the biggest race of the year and every team wants to start the most important race of the year up front on the front row.
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