Race Weekend Central

Michael McDowell Paces Daytona 500 Final Practice

Daytona International Speedway was a quiet(ish) place for final practice on Saturday afternoon.

Only 20 of the 40 cars in the Daytona 500 field took to the 2.5-mile high banks in the 45-minute session. Pacing them was Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell (191.440 mph), who ran nine laps in his No. 34 Ford Mustang.

Ty Dillon (191.432), polesitter William Byron (191.338), Alex Bowman (191.277) and Daniel Hemric (190.920) rounded out the top five, with Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray and Brad Keselowski completing the top 10.

Kurt Busch ran the most laps in the session (16), while Suarez ran the fewest (two).

The 61st running of The Great American Race is set to go green Sunday, Feb. 17, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Austin Dillon is the defending winner of the event.

About the author

Davey is in his fifth season with Frontstretch and currently serves as a multimedia editor and reporter. He authors the "NASCAR Mailbox" column, spearheads the site's video content and hosts the Frontstretch Podcast weekly. He's covered the K&N Pro Series and ARCA extensively for NASCAR.com and currently serves as an associate producer for SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and production assistant for NBC Sports Washington. Follow him on Twitter @DaveyCenter.

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