DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — No surprise this time. Michael McDowell and Ford topped the leaderboard again at Daytona.

McDowell opened the first Daytona 500 practice session with a top speed of 192.736 mph, the first time NASCAR showed off its new car at the track ahead of Sunday’s sold-out race.

McDowell, last season’s stunning winner who beat 100-1 odds to become Daytona 500 champion, helped Ford sweep the top five spots in the first session Tuesday in a draft-heavy session at Daytona International Speedway.

“It’s exciting and it’s fun to come back as the Daytona 500 champion,” McDowell said. “Right now, we currently still are until the race happens. Hopefully, we’ll be the defending (winner). In this moment leading up to it, it’s a lot of fun.”

Ford was just getting warmed up for the second session, the nearly two hours of track time giving drivers a chance to shake down the “Next Gen” car debuting this season. Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney hit 192.588 to lead a top-10 sweep in the second practice for Ford.