Joe Gibbs Toyotas to front in Daytona 500 practice 3

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch

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.

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.

Practice 3 Results

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Behind
1 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota 44.936 200.285 —.—
2 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 44.955 200.200 -0.019s
3 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger.com Chevrolet 44.962 200.169 -0.026
4 20 Erik Jones Sport Clips Toyota 44.965 200.156 -0.029
5 6 Ryan Newman Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Ford 44.979 200.093 -0.043
6 95 Matt DiBenedetto Procore Toyota 44.982 200.080 -0.046
7 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 44.990 200.044 -0.054
8 43 Bubba Wallace Aftershokz Chevrolet 45.084 199.627 -0.148
9 38 David Ragan Select Blinds Ford 45.159 199.296 -0.223
10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 45.179 199.208 -0.243
11 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 45.242 198.930 -0.306
12 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 45.244 198.921 -0.308
13 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 45.309 198.636 -0.373
14 *62 Brendan Gaughan(i) Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Chevy 45.338 198.509 -0.402
15 8 Daniel Hemric # Bass Pro Shops/Caterpillar Chevrolet 45.392 198.273 -0.456
16 24 William Byron Axalta Chevrolet 45.397 198.251 -0.461
17 *31 Tyler Reddick(i) Symbicort Chevrolet 45.404 198.220 -0.468
18 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 45.411 198.190 -0.475
19 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Ford 45.460 197.976 -0.524
20 *27 Casey Mears Chevrolet 45.586 197.429 -0.650
21 *96 Parker Kligerman(i) Gaunt Brothers Racing/Toyota Toyota 45.820 196.421 -0.884
22 37 Chris Buescher Kleenex Wet Wipes Chevrolet 46.203 194.793 -1.267
23 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet 46.617 193.063 -1.681
24 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 46.660 192.885 -1.724
25 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 46.716 192.653 -1.780
26 00 Landon Cassill PERMATEX Chevrolet 46.894 191.922 -1.958
27 40 Jamie McMurray McDonald's/Cessna/Bass Pro Shops Chevy 46.953 191.681 -2.017
28 36 Matt Tifft # Speedco Ford 46.993 191.518 -2.057
29 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Ford 46.999 191.493 -2.063
30 2 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Ford 47.013 191.436 -2.077
31 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 47.207 190.650 -2.271
32 21 Paul Menard Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire Ford 47.261 190.432 -2.325
33 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Peak Ford 47.322 190.186 -2.386
34 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford 47.353 190.062 -2.417
35 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 47.486 189.530 -2.550
36 32 Corey LaJoie Old Spice Ford 47.818 188.214 -2.882

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME