Practice Rundown: Thursday in Daytona

By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Practice 3

Johnny Sauter laid down a 182.197-mph circuit to pace the final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice before NextEra Energy Resources 250.

The Wisconsonite was one of just 23 drivers to complete a lap at speed in the session, which was the third of the day for NASCAR’s third series. The practice was limited mainly to single-truck runs, with no drivers completing more than nine circuits.

Clay Greenfield (182.149 mph) ended the session in second, with Matt Crafton (182.149 mph), Grant Enfinger (181.466 mph) and Stewart Friesen (181.262 mph) rounding out the top five. Bo LeMastus (181.054 mph), David Gilliland (181.027 mph), Justin Haley (180.527 mph), Cody Coughlin (180.513 mph) and Joe Nemechek (180.231 mph) completed the top 10.

The Truck Series field will return for qualifying on Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Practice 3 Results

Practice 2

An early run in the draft for Ben Rhodes yielded the fastest lap in the second of three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practices at Daytona International Speedway.

Rhodes maneuvered his No. 41 Ford around the 2.5-mile oval at an average speed of 192.897 mph to pace the field in the session.

Justin Haley (192.82 mph), Johnny Sauter (191.388 mph.), Bryan Dauzat (191.298 mph) and David Gilliland (191.168 mph) rounded out the top five, with Chris Fontaine (190.864 mph), Spencer Davis (190.231 mph), John Hunter Nemechek (190.182 mph), Cody Coughlin (190.130 mph) and Dalton Sargeant (190.038 mph) completing the top 10.

The session ran caution-free, though many teams took advantage of the opportunity to pack up and run in the draft. The majority of the top times came in the opening stint of the session, when nearly half of the field ran together in an effort to feel their machines out in traffics.

Nice. We're #Drafting. 😎🏁 pic.twitter.com/3XEvhuHZje

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 15, 2018

The Truck Series will return for a final practice session at 4:35 p.m. ET.

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1

Grant Enfinger led the way in the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season’s first practice session.

The ThorSport Racing driver’s top lap of 192.033 mph in the draft proved to be the quickest speed for the Truck Series field, topping Johnny Sauter (191.767 mph), Matt Crafton (191.657 mph), Bryan Dauzat (191.440 mph) and John Hunter Nemechek (190.807 mph).

Cody Coughlin (189.921 mph), Dalton Sargeant (189.889 mph), Ben Rhodes (189.801 mph), Justin Haley (189.717 mph) and Joe Nemechek (189.334 mph) completed the top 10.

The top times in the session all went to drivers that dared to run in the draft. The field attempted to make a pack two times in the opening session, with 10 trucks running in unison around the 2.5-mile oval as the session neared its final half-hour, and another small contingent running together in the waning moments of the practice.

While 36 trucks were on the entry list for the event, only 32 drivers set a time in the session.

Brett Moffitt’s first practice run of the year came to a surprising end only seconds after it began, with the Iowan spinning off of the apron at the exit of Turn 2.

Moffit’s Hattori Racing No. 16 Toyota was undamaged in the crash, and he returned to the track minutes later before ultimately laying down the 14th-fastest lap of the session.

The Truck Series field will return for a second practice session at 2:25 p.m. ET.

Practice 1 Results