Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/OnPitRoad.com
Ahead of his first race at Joe Gibbs Racing, Martin Truex, Jr. has shown a change from Furniture Row Racing won’t slow him down in 2019 after the driver and crew chief Cole Pearn were quickest in Daytona 500 practice.
Truex put down the fastest lap in the draft with a 45.937 seconds. He was closely followed by two of his new teammates Kyle Busch and Erik Jones, who won the last time the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series raced at Daytona International Speedway.
Tyler Reddick posted the fourth fastest lap. Reddick will be attempting his Cup debut, and is among six non-chartered cars vying for four spots in the Daytona 500. Ty Dillon was fifth followed by Brendan Gaughan, another one of the non-chartered cars. Daniel Hemric, Matt DiBenedetto, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10.
Last year’s Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon was 30th in the first of two practice sessions leading up to Sunday’s pole qualifying day.
All 42 cars attempting the race made at least one timed lap in the session.
