Toyotas were in short supply during final NASCAR Cup Series practice for the DAYTONA 500. In fact, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson was the only Camry driver to shake down his car during 50-minute session on Wednesday.
All told, only 18 of the 41 drivers who will take the green flag on Sunday (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) posted lap times during “Happy Hour.”
Pole winner Kyle Busch did not participate. Third-place starter Joey Logano, the 2015 winner of the Great American Race, ran a session-high 32 laps.
Drafting in a group of eight cars, Cook Out Clash winner Ryan Preece topped the speed chart at 192.818 mph, followed by Roush Fenway Keselowski teammate Chris Buescher (192.785 mph), who was driving a backup No. 17 Ford after falling victim to a multicar wreck in Thursday night’s first Duel.
Ross Chastain and two-time defending DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron also were driving backups for the same reason.
“I told my guys it felt just like the primary car,” Byron said of the backup in an interview with FOX Sports. “The guys back at Hendrick Motorsports in the shop worked extremely hard overnight on Thursday night into Friday morning, and it feels identical, honestly.
“So big credit to them, and I couldn’t really tell any differences. We worked on a couple of things yesterday to try to get handling off of both ends of the corners, and I think it’s going to be good.”
It’s noteworthy that Byron won the first of his two straight DAYTONA 500s in 2024 in a backup car.
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