Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola led a parade of seven Fords that topped the charts in Thursday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session in preparation for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Sat., 7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Thursday’s final practice was canceled because of rain after a downpour began shortly after the start of the 4:05 p.m. ET session.
Thus, in the only practice session before Saturday’s race, Bowyer guided his No. 14 SHR Ford around Daytona International Speedway at 200.799 mph for the fastest time of the day.
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Almirola, meanwhile, logged a lap at 200.691 mph in his No. 10 Ford.
All three Team Penske Fords rounded out the top five — Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 at 200.553 mph, Joey Logano in the No. 22 at 200.539 mph and Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 at 200.530 mph.
The other two Stewart-Haas Racing drivers — Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick — finished sixth and seventh in the day’s early practice session.
Defending Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 26th out of 39 drivers, recording a lap at 198.360 mph.