Austin Cindric paces first Daytona 500 practice session

A former Daytona 500 winner was fastest in the first practice session ahead of Sunday's "Great American Race." 

Austin Cindric, who won the 2022 Daytona 500, topped the speed chart with a time of 48.025 seconds around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in Wednesday's 50-minute session that saw teams complete single-car runs in preparation for Wednesday's pole qualifying run. 

Wednesday's qualifying session will lock in the front row for the Daytona 500, with the other 39 starting spots — including four of eight open drivers trying to make the race — being set in Thursday's duel races. 

Notable practice results

Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-five, with Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Corey Heim, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and Jimmie Johnson completing the top-10. 

LaJoie and Heim's speed in practice is especially notable because they are two of the open drivers competing for a chance just to race in the Daytona 500. The two fastest open cars in Wednesday's qualifying session will be locked into the Daytona 500 field. 

Other notable practice results include Kyle Busch in 12th, defending Daytona 500 pole winner Chase Briscoe in 13th, Chase Elliott in 20th, Denny Hamlin in 23rd and two-time defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron in 34th. 

Justin Allgaier (19th), Anthony Alfredo (26th), Chandler Smith (35th), BJ McLeod (41st), Casey Mears (42nd) and JJ Yeley (last, 43rd) were the other open cars to make laps in the session.

Daytona 500 qualifying will begin at 8:15 p.m. ET Wednesday, with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.