Bubba Wallace nearly topped 200 mph in the draft to lead Wednesday’s Daytona 500 practice session at Daytona International Speedway.
Wallace, driving for the 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, ran in a draft with the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas in topping the speed chart at 199.747 mph. He was followed by JGR drivers Martin Truex Jr. (199.694 mph), Hamlin (199.689), Kyle Busch (199.627) and Christopher Bell (199.623).
Jamie McMurray was sixth on the speed chart, running a lap of 199.358 mph in his Chevrolet. His Spire Motorsports teammate for this race, Corey LaJoie, was next 199.159 mph. Michael McDowell was the top Ford at eighth on the speed chart with a lap of 198.957.
Bell ran the most laps in the 50-minute session at 22. Wallace and Hamlin were next at 20. Wallace also has the fastest average over 10 consecutive laps at 198.131 mph. Truex was next at 198.117 mph.
Daytona 500 practice speeds
Daytona 500 qualifying order
Teams qualify at 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on FS1. The fastest two qualifiers were secure spots in the Daytona 500. Also, the two fastest non-chartered cars will guarantee a spot in the Daytona 500. Ryan Preece (194.569) and Ty Dillon (189.032) were the fastest among the eight non-chartered cars going for four spots in the 500.
Speeds of the eight non-chartered cars:
194.569 - Ryan Preece
189.032 - Ty Dillon
188.359 - Kaz Grala
188.273 - David Ragan
188.174 - Austin Cindric
186.266 - Noah Gragson
186.143 - Garrett Smithley
186.135 - Timmy Hill
