Catchfence

Mark Martin, with a lap speed of 184.877 mph, was the fastest during the first NSCS Daytona 500 practice session at Daytona International Speedway.

Second fastest was Martin’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, with a lap speed of 184.513 mph, followed by Paul Menard (184.317) who was third fastest, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (184.249) fourth fastest and Jeff Burton (184.230) was fifth fastest.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest were Bill Elliott (184.124) who was sixth fastest, Jimmie Johnson (184.011) seventh, David Ragan (183.921) eighth, Tony Stewart (183.884) ninth and Clint Bowyer (183.835) was tenth fastest.

The drivers will return to the track for another practice session at 2:00 PM (EST) today, and then they will strap themselves in later tonight to run the Budweiser Shootout.

Qualifying to determine the top-2 starting positions for the 53rd running of the Daytona 500, is scheduled to get underway on Sunday at 1:05 PM (EST).

2011 NSCS Daytona 500 First Practice Session Speeds

Pos	Car	Driver	Laps	Best Speed	Last Speed	Avg. Speed	Best Time	Last Time	Avg. Time
1	5	Mark Martin	5	184.877	184.877	183.344	48.68	48.68	49.09
2	24	Jeff Gordon	8	184.513	184.302	183.213	48.78	48.83	49.12
3	27	Paul Menard	9	184.317	184.317	182.403	48.83	48.83	49.34
4	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	8	184.249	184.249	182.659	48.85	48.85	49.27
5	31	Jeff Burton	9	184.23	183.636	182.812	48.85	49.01	49.23
6	9	Bill Elliott	8	184.124	184.124	182.458	48.88	48.88	49.33
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	8	184.011	184.011	182.733	48.91	48.91	49.25
8	6	David Ragan	9	183.921	183.393	182.321	48.93	49.08	49.36
9	14	Tony Stewart	5	183.884	183.884	182.531	48.94	48.94	49.31
10	33	Clint Bowyer	8	183.835	183.835	182.028	48.96	48.96	49.44
11	21	Trevor Bayne	5	183.497	183.497	182.044	49.05	49.05	49.44
12	39	Ryan Newman	4	183.486	168.105	177.373	49.05	53.54	50.74
13	16	Greg Biffle	5	183.479	183.479	182.12	49.05	49.05	49.42
14	36	Dave Blaney	6	183.464	183.464	181.939	49.06	49.06	49.47
15	99	Carl Edwards	5	183.426	183.426	181.812	49.07	49.07	49.5
16	9	Marcos Ambrose	9	183.359	183.255	182.165	49.08	49.11	49.41
17	17	Matt Kenseth	9	183.195	183.195	181.747	49.13	49.13	49.52
18	22	Kurt Busch	9	183.146	183.146	181.703	49.14	49.14	49.53
19	18	Kyle Busch	7	182.997	182.997	181.717	49.18	49.18	49.53
20	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	5	182.99	182.99	181.48	49.18	49.18	49.59
21	1	Jamie McMurray	5	182.957	182.957	181.541	49.19	49.19	49.58
22	11	Denny Hamlin	9	182.86	181.536	180.521	49.22	49.58	49.86
23	29	Kevin Harvick	6	182.786	182.786	181.259	49.24	49.24	49.65
24	38	Travis Kvapil	5	182.782	182.782	181.038	49.24	49.24	49.71
25	43	A.J. Allmendinger	5	182.775	182.775	181.153	49.24	49.24	49.68
26	20	Joey Logano	8	182.7	182.7	180.934	49.26	49.26	49.74
27	0	David Reutimann	8	182.264	182.264	181.078	49.38	49.38	49.7
28	4	Kasey Kahne	9	182.175	182.175	180.81	49.4	49.4	49.78
29	13	Casey Mears	2	182.068	182.068	180.994	49.43	49.43	49.73
30	2	Brad Keselowski	8	181.984	181.613	180.451	49.46	49.56	49.88
31	47	Bobby Labonte	9	181.763	181.763	180.592	49.52	49.52	49.84
32	83	Brian Vickers	9	181.73	181.657	180.334	49.52	49.54	49.91
33	60	Todd Bodine	5	181.69	181.496	180.855	49.54	49.59	49.76
34	34	David Gilliland	5	181.671	181.671	179.805	49.54	49.54	50.05
35	87	Joe Nemechek	5	181.642	181.642	180.268	49.55	49.55	49.93
36	97	Kevin Conway	5	181.378	181.378	180.02	49.62	49.62	49.99
37	56	Martin Truex Jr.	5	181.324	181.324	179.531	49.64	49.64	50.13
38	71	Andy Lally	7	181.218	181.218	179.25	49.66	49.66	50.21
39	78	Regan Smith	5	181.2	181.2	179.385	49.67	49.67	50.17
40	77	Steve Wallace	6	181.196	180.581	179.197	49.67	49.84	50.22
41	7	Robby Gordon	6	180.952	180.952	179.904	49.74	49.74	50.03
42	15	Michael Waltrip	2	180.814	180.814	179.594	49.78	49.78	50.11
43	46	J.J. Yeley	2	180.567	180.567	179.413	49.84	49.84	50.16
44	37	Robert Richardson	5	179.558	179.494	178.082	50.12	50.14	50.54
45	32	Terry Labonte	5	179.369	179.369	178.878	50.18	50.18	50.31
46	66	Michael McDowell	2	178.973	178.973	177.233	50.29	50.29	50.78
47	64	Derrike Cope	2	177.228	177.228	175.735	50.78	50.78	51.21
48	92	Brian Keselowski	2	176.136	176.136	174.847	51.1	51.1	51.47