RELATED: Daytona 500 schedule| Final practice results
Darrell Wallace Jr. made a splash in the Can-Am Duels, finishing third, and topped the speed chart in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, proving he’s carrying plenty of momentum into Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.)
The rookie piloted the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway at 196.954 mph. Second-year driver Daniel Suarez was second-fastest at 196.528 mph in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Three Chevrolets completed the top five: Ryan Newman at 196.464 mph in the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing entry, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron (196.382 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (196.305 mph). Byron and Johnson are both in backup cars after wrecking in Thursday night’s Can-Am Duels.
Four cars served a 15-minute hold at the end of final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for failing Daytona 500 qualifying inspection twice: Kyle Busch’s No. 18, Johnson’s No. 48, AJ Allmendinger’s No. 47 and Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 23.
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