Mike Bliss caught a draft to post the fastest time Friday morning in Nextel Cup practice. Credit: Autostock

Bliss fastest in incident-free Happy Hour

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nextel Cup teams finally made it onto the track on Friday as a break in the weather allowed for a full practice for the Pepsi 400.

Teams will qualify on Friday at 4:40 p.m. ET.

Friday's practice was run without incident as teams worked on both race setups and qualifying setups. Cars were also able to get in extensive drafting runs.

Kevin Harvick

During one of those drafting runs, Mike Bliss set the fastest lap of the session with a lap of 189.434 mph. Kevin Harvick was second-quick at 189.366 mph.

"Mine really didn't feel that good," said Harvick. "Just caught a lucky draft."

Harvick still sounded frustrated about Sonoma, where he finished 37th after experiencing transmission and motor problems during the race weekend.

"I can't control what happens to the cars," Harvick said. "I've had a rear end fall out of it, motors fall out of it."

DEI teammates Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were way down the speed chart -- they were 37th- and 30th-best, respectively.

"We are pretty confident about how our car is handling and driving," said Waltrip. "We feel like it will race well."

Robby Gordon, who failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 in February, will need to find speed for Friday's qualifying session in order to avoid his second straight DNQ at Daytona. He was 42nd-best in the practice session.

Also under the gun is Mike Wallace, whose Morgan-McClure Motorsports outfit hasn't missed a race this season. Wallace practiced 45th-best, last among the teams which made a time.

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Wallace didn't run at Sonoma because the team installed P.J. Jones in hopes of getting a decent finish. Instead, Jones finished 32nd, and the team slipped to 36th in the owners standings, meaning they will have to make the field on speed.

Teams practiced Friday in steamy conditions, giving promise to a physically demanding race on Saturday.

"I hope it warms up later, man," Jeremy Mayfield quipped to Michael Waltrip.

"I don't think the hot stuff will come for quite some time now," replied Waltrip.