2026 Daytona 500 Practice Results: Austin Cindric paces opening practice

Daytona International Speedway was alive again on Wednesday as the NASCAR Cup Series officially opened the Daytona 500 with the first practice. 2022 race winner Austin Cindric led the 45-car field with a session-best lap of 48.025 seconds (187.402 mph) in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

Ross Chastain and Corey LaJoie followed closely behind. Check out the full results below.

2026 Daytona 500 Practice Results

1. Austin Cindric, 48.025 seconds
2. Ross Chastain, 48.146
3. Corey LaJoie, 48.253
4. Bubba Wallace, 48.262
5. Daniel Suarez, 48.494
6. Alex Bowman, 48.522
7. Erik Jones, 48.585
8. Corey Heim, 48.599
9. Kyle Larson, 48.679
10. Jimmie Johnson, 48.688
11. John Hunter Nemechek, 48.737
12. Kyle Busch, 48.775
13. Chase Briscoe, 48.815
14. Austin Dillon, 48.87
15. Riley Herbst, 48.877
16. Ty Dilon, 48.89
17. Connor Zilisch, 48.937
18. Chris Buescher, 48.954
19. Justin Allgaier, 48.99
20. Chase Elliott, 48.994
21. Josh Berry, 48.996
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 48.998
23. Denny Hamlin, 49.005
24. Ryan Preece, 49.007
25. Cole Custer, 49.035
26. Anthony Alfredo, 49.041
27. Tyler Reddick, 49.043
28. Brad Keselowski, 49.066
29. Carson Hocevar, 49.08
30. Christopher Bell, 49.084
31. Ryan Blaney, 49.095
32. Joey Logano, 49.102
33. Cody Ware, 49.113
34. William Byron, 49.189
35. Chandler Smith, 49.202
36. Ty Gibbs, 49.237
37. AJ Allmendinger, 49.244
38. Shane van Gisbergen, 49.321
39. Noah Gragson, 49.395
40. Zane Smith, 49.499
41. BJ McLeod, 49.656
42. Casey Mears, 49.81
43. JJ Yeley, 50.126

What is the Daytona 500 Schedule?

Wednesday, February 11

• NASCAR Cup Series Single-Car Qualifying (one lap, two rounds) – 8:15 p.m. ET (FS1)

Thursday, February 12

• ARCA Series Practice – 4 p.m. ET
• Truck Series Practice – 5 p.m. ET (FS1)
• NASCAR Cup Series Duel #1 – 7 p.m. ET (FS1)
• NASCAR Cup Series Duel #2 – 8:45 p.m. ET (FS1)

Friday, February 13

• ARCA Series Qualifying – 1:30 p.m. ET
• Truck Series Qualifying – 3 p.m. ET
• Xfinity Series Practice – 4:30 p.m. ET (CW)
• NASCAR Cup Series Practice – 5:35 – 6:25 p.m. ET (FS1)
• Fresh from Florida 250 Truck Series race (100 laps) – 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)

Saturday, February 14

• Xfinity Series Qualifying – 10 a.m. ET (CW)
• ARCA Menards Series 200 race (80 laps) – 12 p.m. ET (FOX)
• NASCAR Cup Series final practice – 3 – 3:55 p.m. ET (FS1)
• United Rentals 300 Xfinity Series race (120 laps) – 5 p.m. ET (CW)

Sunday, February 15

• NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 (200 laps) – 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX)