A crash by Darrell Wallace, Jr. provided the only fireworks in an otherwise tame first practice session for the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series season at Daytona International Speedway, with championship contender Ty Dillon leading the way.
Dillon, again the driver of the No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing, topped the chart with a speed of 192.526 mph. Brother Austin Dillon, also a Childress teammate in the No. 2, was third at 191.910 mph, while Blake Koch’s new No. 11 for Kaulig Racing, which has a partnership with Childress, was second at 191.963 mph.
A pair of Sprint Cup Series regulars rounded out the top 5 — Kasey Kahne (190.034 mph) in the No. 5 for JR Motorsports and Joey Logano’s No. 22 for Team Penske (190.002 mph), while Bobby Labonte, Kyle Larson, Brendan Gaughan, Erik Jones and David Starr finished out the practice top 10.
Wallace, driver of Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 6 for the second year in a row, spun in a single-car incident and received damage particularly to the right side of his Ford. He’ll go to a backup car; his No. 6 was 17th in the session at 189.183 mph.
In all, 47 of the 48 entered cars took time during practice; only the No. 97 of Harrison Rhodes for Obaika Racing was absent.
For a full list of practice results, please click this link.
Two more practices will be held today, Feb. 19, for the XFINITY Series: one at 1 p.m. ET, the other at 3 p.m. ET. The entries (48 for 40 positions) will qualify Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, while the race itself is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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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