Vickers fastest in final Gatorade build-up.

Brian Vickers came away from Wednesday's pair of Nextel Cup practice sessions with the fastest speed in his #25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, although the performances of some of those teams not yet locked into Sunday's Daytona 500 has set the stage for some real drama in Thursday's pair of Gatorade Duels.

Vickers, whose best 46.946secs tour of the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway more than made up for an early exit from last Sunday's Bud Shootout, was the only Hendrick driver to have stayed quiet prior to Wednesday's practice sessions.

The third year Nextel Cup driver, made a huge jump up the speed charts during the afternoon session having only set 48th fastest time in the earlier practice. Dale Earnhardt Jr, with a best time of 47.024secs, was quickest in the morning, followed by Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman, although in both practices, there were some surprising names near the top of the charts.

Kevin Lepage, last year's Daytona 500 fairytale story, was fourth fastest in the morning behind the wheel of his #61 Peak Performance Motorsports Ford. Lepage, who narrowly failed to secure a place in the Daytona 500 starting field in last Sunday's Bud Pole qualifying session, led Morgan McClure Motorsports' Scott Wimmer who, like Lepage, has yet to secure his starting spot in Sunday's big race.

In the afternoon session it was Mike Wallace who turned the most heads, setting second fastest time of the day in his #09 Phoenix Racing Dodge despite losing a tyre part-way through the session.

Wallace, who will be another of the 19 drivers fighting for just four positions in the starting field on Sunday, kept Greg Biffle and Dale Jarrett at bay in afternoon practice, while there were also stand out performances from Robby Gordon (7th fastest) and Chad Chaffin (9th fastest).

There was less good fortune for Bud Shootout winner Denny Hamlin, who cut a tyre and scraped the wall in the first session and then chose not to go out and practice during the afternoon session.