Marco Andretti tops the chart in ARCA Menards Series practice at Daytona

For the ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway, Marco Andretti is the driver who topped the charts during the session. He will make starts in the NASCAR Truck Series this season, but right now, he has his eyes on an ARCA win.

There is something about seeing an Andretti turn fast laps at Daytona, right? He might not be Mario, but Marco was holding the pedal down on his ARCA car and holding a steady wheel. He went on to run a lap of 48.600.

Patrick Emerling, who was P2 in practice, was just 0.001 seconds behind Marco Andretti. For the former IndyCar winner, it is about having fun and learning. It helps to be on top of the practice chart.

“Just the way we planned it,” Andretti laughed after the session, via the ARCA newswire. “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.” 

The ARCA 200 at Daytona is always a crap shoot. Being out front doesn’t guarantee you can stay out of the big one(s) but it does help if you aren’t hung up in the middle of the pack.

A fun little note from the practice session, Dale Quarterley was fifth overall with a 48.718 second lap. The 63-year-old driver still shows up to the track and still knows how to get his car around it quickly.

Marco Andretti diving into the deep end with ARCA

ARCA is a development series, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t real talent. Let’s not act like Andretti has a ton of experience in this car. He doesn’t. The fact that he’s fastest in practice is impressive and shows that he should be able to keep up with the regulars.

The Venturini Motorsports cars are very close together. All were in the top-10 in practice and within just a few hundredths of one another. Those five will be tough to beat. Willie Mullins, who won the ARCA Daytona race in 2018 was P3 overall.

Justin Bonsignore was able to outpace Shane van Gisbergen. The battle of the three-time champions, Bonsignore in NASCAR Modifieds and SVG in Supercars. Those two have learning to do, but being P11 and P13 in practice is a solid start.

This is going to be a really exciting race. Qualifying should tell us the single-lap speed of these cars. They were able to run in the draft a bit in practice. Right now, Marco Andretti has control of this ARCA field, and a big target on his back.