Daytona 500 - Practice 5 and 6 times

With two days to go to the Daytona 500, two more practice sessions were available to the drivers and teams now that the Gatorade Duels have set all the starting positions for the main race on Sunday.

Andrew Lewin_1

18 Feb 2011

Despite the opportunity to fine-tune their race cars, many drivers and teams stayed away from the two scheduled Friday practice sessions leaving only 12 participants in each session.

Those that did take to the track tended to be the cars that performed poorly in the Duel or else were damaged and subsequently repaired and needed to be checked out, as with Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet; or where the driver now needed to switch to the backup car, as with David Ragan's No. 6 Ford.

"We're sitting out [Friday's] practice completely," Kyle Busch said. "We're working on the car and doing our engine change and making sure everything is up to spec and tuned for the 500. We'll probably just go out for practice a little bit [Saturday] ... That's about it. We'll get out there with one of our teammates most likely and push them around for a few laps and call it a day."

Many drivers were also otherwise involved in the qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series In Nationwide qualifying, Clint Bowyer took the top spot ahead of Landon Cassill, Dale Earnhardt Jr. - and Danica Patrick in 4th in the first race of her limited run in this year's Nationwide Series: her appearances in NASCAR have to be fitted in with her "day job" for Andretti Autosports in the IndyCar series. Trevor Bayne qualified 7th behind Joey Logano, with Kyle Busch 8th and Carl Edwards 9th.

In the Camping World Truck series, pole was taken by Austin Dillon ahead of James Buescher. One-time Sprint Cup racer Elliott Sadler qualified in 6th, with Michael Waltrip in 11th and Todd Bodine - who failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 itself - will start from 15th while Kyle Busch lines up in 21st.

None of the drivers who have nominated the Sprint Cup as their main series can score driver points in the Nationwide or Truck races, but they can still contribute to their owners' points in those series.
Practice 5

1. #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 45.767s (Leader) 196.648mph
2. #27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 45.768s (-0.001) 196.644mph
3. #6 David Ragan Ford 45.956s (-0.189) 195.839mph
4. #9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 45.956s (-0.189) 195.839mph
5. #11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 46.154s (-0.387) 194.999mph
6. #14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 46.155s (-0.388) 194.995mph
7. #83 Brian Vickers Toyota 46.312s (-0.545) 194.334mph
8. #4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 46.313s (-0.546) 194.33mph
9. #43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 46.762s (-0.995) 192.464mph
10. #71 Andy Lally Chevrolet 46.763s (-0.996) 192.46mph
11. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 46.9s (-1.133) 191.898mph
12. #99 Carl Edwards Ford 49.683s (-3.916) 181.148mph
Practice 6

1. #5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 45.731s (Leader) 196.803mph
2. #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 45.733s (-0.002) 196.794mph
3. #4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 46.224s (-0.493) 194.704mph
4. #83 Brian Vickers Toyota 46.225s (-0.494) 194.7mph
5. #16 Greg Biffle Ford 46.426s (-0.695) 193.857mph
6. #17 Matt Kenseth Ford 46.426s (-0.695) 193.857mph
7. #39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 46.471s (-0.74) 193.669mph
8. #22 Kurt Busch Dodge 46.473s (-0.742) 193.661mph
9. #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 46.53s (-0.799) 193.424mph
10. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 46.568s (-0.837) 193.266mph
11. #9 Bill Elliott Chevrolet 46.618s (-0.887) 193.059mph
12. #6 David Ragan Ford 50.331s (-4.600) 178.816mph