Joe Gibbs Racing dominated Friday’s third Daytona 500 practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Kyle Busch jumped on top with a fast lap speed of 200.285 mph in the No. 18 M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota. Martin Truex Jr. followed in second with a lap of 200.200 in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota.
JGR teammate Erik Jones finished the session in fourth with the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota (200.156 mph) and their stablemate Denny Hamlin capped off the JGR group in seventh (200.044 mph) in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota, putting all of the Toyotas in the top 10.
MORE: Full practice results
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Preece practiced for 17 laps in his No. 47 Kroger.com Chevrolet and finished the practice session in third. He ran a best lap speed of 200.169 mph. This is Preece’s first Daytona 500.
Busch was also near the top of the leaderboard in the first Daytona 500 practice session last Saturday, when he finished in second behind Truex with a best speed of 195.852.
The 2015 champion was involved in an incident on Lap 35 of the Gander RV Duel No. 2 with Jimmie Johnson on Thursday night, where his left-rear quarter panel was clipped by the right-front bumper of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet. Busch went for a spin down the backstretch but was able to avoid more damage.
He will start 31st on Sunday for the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Final Daytona 500 practice for the Cup series is at 3:05 p.m. ET on FS1.
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