DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In his first official laps behind the wheel of a stock car, NTT IndyCar Series superstar Marco Andretti turned the fastest lap in practice for the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Friday afternoon.
Andretti, in Bruce Cook and Steve McGowan’s No. 17 Group1001 Chevrolet, timed in at 48.600 seconds (185.185 mph) to lead the 50-car field.
“Just the way we planned it,” Andretti said about his 0.001-second margin over second place Patrick Emerling, who timed in at 48.601 seconds in his self-owned No. 08 Southern Tier Security Ford. “One one-thousandth of a second is all you need, and we had it. It’s great to be here and we’re looking forward to getting out and putting on a good show on Saturday.”
Willie Mullins, who finished second in the Daytona ARCA 200 in 2018, was third fastest in the 45-minute session with a fast lap of 48.676 seconds (184.896 mph). Championship contender Kris Wright was the fastest of the five Venturini Motorsports entries in fourth at 48.718 seconds (184.737 mph), tied with Dale Quarterley in fifth.
Bounty Rookie Challenge contender Jake Finch was sixth along with his Venturini Motorsports teammates Gus Dean in seventh, Amber Balcaen in eighth and Toni Breidinger in ninth. Ed Pompa, driving for two-time Daytona ARCA 200 winner and 1995 ARCA Menards Series champion Andy Hillenburg, rounded out the top 10.
There were no incidents throughout practice and 49 of the 50 cars entered made at least one lap in practice.