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Bubba Wallace topped the leaderboard in Wednesday afternoon’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice for the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Wallace turned his first laps in the new No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, posting a fastest time of 45.057 seconds at 199.747 mph. Toyota linked up early to practice drafting in the 50-minute session to take the top-five fastest positions between 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.
RELATED: Practice results
Martin Truex Jr. finished second in the first practice session of 2021 with a time of 45.069 seconds at 199.694 mph in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, followed by 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin with a time of 45.07 seconds at 199.689 mph in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Tuesday night’s Busch Clash winner, Kyle Busch, ended the session in fourth (199.627 mph), while teammate and new No. 20 Toyota driver Christopher Bell finished fifth (199.623 mph).
Spire Motorsports drivers Jamie McMurray and Corey LaJoie were the fastest Chevrolets in the practice session, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Michael McDowell led the Ford Performance brigade with the eighth-fastest time, followed by Ryan Newman and Cole Custer to round out the top 10.
Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is Daytona 500 qualifying at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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