Hamlin tops the times in Daytona 500 practice

Denny Hamlin was fastest in the lone practice session ahead of Daytona 500 qualifying on Wednesday morning.

Hamlin ran 19 laps and went fastest at 187.480 mph (48.005 seconds). Bubba Wallace was second-fastest at 186.916 mph.

Ty Gibbs was third-fastest at 186.370 mph, Chandler Smith was fourth-fastest at 186.177 mph, and John Hunter Nemechek was fifth-fastest at 186.100 mph. Smith is one of nine drivers who must earn a spot in the Daytona 500 field.

Riley Herbst was sixth-fastest at 186.097 mph, Daniel Suarez was seventh-fastest at 184.642 mph, and Noah Gragson was eighth-fastest at 184.294 mph. Erik Jones was ninth-fastest at 184.188 mph and Kyle Busch completed the top 10 at 183.707 mph.

Gibbs ran the most laps in practice at 24. There were 23 drivers who made less than 10 laps in practice before calling it quits.

Helio Castroneves was 12th-fastest in practice during his first laps on the track with Trackhouse Racing. Castroneves ran 13 laps during the session.

Shane van Gisbergen, beginning his rookie season, was 17th-fastest. The defending Daytona 500 winner, William Byron, was 22nd-fastest. Martin Truex Jr. was 31st-fastest, Jimmie Johnson was 32nd-fastest, and Justin Allgaier was 36th-fastest. All of the latter three need to qualify into the field.

As expected, the session focused on single-car runs. However, near the end of practice, Hamlin went to the top of the board in a small draft. Those who drafted were in a two — or three-car train.

A handful of teams were pleased to have the practice session, as gremlins appeared to need addressing. Without practice, they might have surfaced during qualifying or the qualifying duel races, perhaps impacting their Daytona 500 efforts.

Brad Keselowski was one of them. He had a steering issue, which caused smoke to come from his RFK Racing Ford Mustang while on the track.

Some teams chose not to participate in the 50-minute practice session, as 43 of the 45 entered spent time on track. Spire Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Justin Haley were those who did not practice.

NEXT: Daytona 500 qualifying at 8:15 p.m. ET.