Race Weekend Central

Kyle Larson Wins Thursday Daytona 500 Practice By Beating 4 Other Cars

So, about that final Daytona 500 practice before the Budweiser Duels….

In Thursday morning’s practice session, the fifth total for the Sprint Cup Series at Daytona for Sunday’s race, only four cars participated in total, with Kyle Larson coming out on top.

Larson ran a speed of 192.70 mph to top the practice chart. He was joined by Cole Whitt, JJ Yeley, Michael Annett and Jeb Burton during the session. Whitt was second, followed by Annett, Yeley and Burton.

Larson celebrated the run on Twitter, giving a thumbs up as he was first out of two cars with still a little under an hour remaining.

Many teams opted to not practice, either saving supplies or negating the risk of ruining a car close enough to the Budweiser Duels tonight—or both.

Aside from Larson, the other cars that practiced were mostly smaller teams, some of which were caught in wrecks earlier in other practice sessions that necessitated the use of a backup car or major repairs.

The Budweiser Duels will be held tonight (Feb. 19) starting at 7 p.m. ET. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, respectively, will start on the pole of each race.

Thursday Daytona 500 Practice Results

1. 42- Kyle Larson 192.699
2. 35- Cole Whitt 190.710
3. 46- Michael Annett 190.098
4. 23- JJ Yeley 189.478
5. 26- Jeb Burton 187.964

About the author

Rutherford is the managing editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2015 after serving on the editing staff for two years. At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.

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