By Micah Roberts
Posted 07/05/2012 at 07:37 PM

Aric Almirola was the fastest in Thursday’s first practice session at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400. Almirola’s fast lap of 201.961 mph topped 44 drivers and also highlighted six drivers that topped 200 mph during the session. *********** Right behind Almriola was his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Marcos Ambrose at 201.374 mph showing once again that the Fords might have a little something better than the other manufacturers at Daytona. ********** A Ford has won the last three races at Daytona and placed three of the top-five fastest times in the early practice with Greg Biffle having the fifth fastest lap. ********** The top Toyota performer was Joey Logano with the third fastest lap followed by Chevrolet’s top time captured by 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman. A.J. Allmendinger represented Dodge with the seventh fastest lap. *********** Tony Stewart ran the most laps (49) during the 80-minute session while gaining the 26th fastest speed. ********* Pre-race favorite, and this years Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth came in with the 14th fastest lap and two-time Daytona winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 24th fastest, just ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson. ********* The other half of the Hendrick Motorsports group finished with top laps inside the top-10 led by six-time Daytona winner Jeff Gordon, who was sixth-fastest. Kasey Kahne was 10th fastest as he still searches for his first restrictor-plate win. ******** The main topic again throughout the garages was trying to keep the engines as cool as possible while maximizing speed. With a smaller radiator used for the plate races, it's a tough compromise. ******* Denny Hamlin did not participate in practice due to a sore back, although Kyle Busch did run three laps in the car just to give the crew something to work with. Hamlin withdrew from Friday night’s Nationwide race, but is expected to participate in Saturday’s Cup race. ********* Thursday’s final practice will start at 6:35 pm (ET) giving the teams their last chance to tinker with the car before Friday’s 4:10 pm qualifying.