NASCAR Xfinity Alex Labbe far behind in free practice at

NASCAR Xfinity: Alex Labbé far behind in free practice at Daytona Beach

DAYTONA BEACH | Alex Labbé’s name appears on the back of the pack at the conclusion of the only free practice session presented at the end of the afternoon on Friday.

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The Quebec driver set just the 39th fastest time of 43 posted in anticipation of the season’s first event in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, taking place late Saturday afternoon at the legendary Daytona Circuit.

Labbé was limited to seven rounds (only two of which were consecutive) during the hour-long session. He stopped in the tank pits on many occasions to allow his mechanics to make some adjustments which he felt were successful.

“I’m not worried about what’s next,” Labbé said as he got out of the car. We did a lap and then stopped to make adjustments. With every change we managed to go faster. My last two laps were also the fastest. »

Two seconds behind the leader

Labbé lost almost two seconds to the fastest time holder, Myatt Snider. But this result is deceptive, because the leaders rode in a peloton and used the slipstream.

“I drove my solo laps specifically to prepare for qualifying. Not for the race,” he added.

This qualifying, which is scheduled for Saturday at 11:30 a.m., only includes one flying lap. Labbé he needs to be in the top 33 to secure his spot on the grid which will bring together 38 riders.

Most of them are already guaranteed to start regardless of their time in qualifying based on the points they’ve accumulated over the past year, which sadly isn’t the case for Labbé.

The latter certainly wants to redeem himself, having failed to qualify at the same time last year in Daytona by just two hundredths of a second.

“The behavior of the car is promising. For the qualifying lap alone, I can only hope that the engine will live up to my expectations. The most important thing here at Daytona is speed. You never slow down in qualifying,” said Labbé.

The race starts on Saturday at 5 p.m.