NXS: Ty Dillon Tops Opening Powershares QQQ 300 Practice; Wallace to a Back-Up Car

Alas, the NASCAR XFINITY Series teams got their chance to take to the track at Daytona International Speedway as they had their first practice ahead Saturday’s Powershares QQQ 300.

While speeds do not mean much as it all depends on whether you catch a draft at the right time and how you close up on someone, it’d be Ty Dillon topping the charts with a speed of 46.747 mph following some drafting during the first half of the session. Finishing third in points last season, Dillon returns for his third full-time season in the series as he looks to win his first championship.

Richard Childress Racing produced that they have quick cars for the XFINITY event, sweeping the top-three spots. Ty took the top spot behind the wheel of a RCR Chevrolet, followed by Blake Koch’s Kulig Racing entry that has a technical alliance with RCR, and Austin Dillon’s RCR entry.

“Really fast. Proud of the guys,” Austin Dillon said. “They put a lot of effort into this car. Just trying to get a lap so that way we qualify and get our car in the second round. It was pretty wild in watching everybody block and run back and forth. I hope everybody realizes that we have a race to run on Saturday.”

Dillon added that he thinks they’ll run well and have a good handling car, but notes “with the high temperatures of the day, someone will lose grip as the race goes and lose a bit at the end.”

Kaulig Racing is a brand new team this season, formed by Leaf Filter Services owner Mark Kaulig. After sponsoring Blake Koch over the past couple seasons with his company, Kaulig is stepping up his partnership in 2016, forming a brand new race team. Koch will be behind the wheel, with veteran crew chief Chris Rice calling the shots. The pair have worked together before, producing Koch’s best career finish with a 11th at Homestead-Miami Speedway a couple years ago.

JR Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne was fourth quickest, followed by Penske Racing driver Joey Logano. Bobby Labonte, who reunites with Joe Gibbs Racing, was sixth quickest, followed by Kyle Larson, Brendan Gaughan, Erik Jones and David Starr.

Meanwhile, the practice wouldn’t be without incident as Darrell Wallace Jr. will be going to a back-up car after contact with the wall. Aric Almirola went to go underneath Wallace, and Wallace came down at the same time, resulting in contact that sent Wallace back up into the outside retaining wall.

“It’s just a bummer,” Wallace commented. “Excited to be here and pumped up to be here, ready to go. I don’t know if I made a mistake there; just trying to be a better pack racer. I came down there and I don’t know if I came down into him, or if the 98 ran into me. Just disappointing but if this is a sign of getting it out of the way early, then I’d rather do it now than in the race. I didn’t want to do it at all, really. Just trying to not get too down about it.”

“Me and the 88 were working really well together and got a run and he came up to block – which is fine by me. I went to go down and he came down at the same time and made contact,” Almirola explained. “It’s unfortunate that it happened and I fell bad. You have to block and make moves, but this is practice and you have to watch.”

The NASCAR XFINITY teams will get two more sessions on track today before qualifying and racing on Saturday.