Practice Breakdown: Phoenix (Subway Fresh Fit 500)

This week’s race at Phoenix will be like an “impound race”. Two practices were held on Friday, and those sessions plus qualifying (held tomorrow) will be the only track time the cars see until the drop of the green flag. Mock qualifying runs were mostly made during second practice today. Even though the average speed numbers won’t be as telling as last year’s numbers, they will be more helpful than the practice charts themselves. Here’s a link for last fall’s average speed chart at Phoenix, which wasn’t an impound race. Click here for the results (in order of their average practice speeds the day before). In addition to average speeds, make sure you pay attention to ten-lap average speeds, too.

Important Practice Notes: Trevor Bayne hit the wall early in first practice and had to go to a backup. Travis Kvapil followed suit soon after, but I’m not sure if he had to go to his backup car or not. Matt Kenseth had an issue with his brake/gas pedals early in first practice but seemed to get it fixed. A.J. Allmendinger hit the wall in both practices but didn’t get too much damage in each incident.

The first practice session on Friday shook out like this:
1. Kurt Busch – 136.539 mph
2. Jeff Burton – 133.869 mph
3. Denny Hamlin – 133.754 mph
4. Kevin Harvick – 133.412 mph
5. Kyle Busch – 133.398 mph
Complete practice 1 speeds can be found by clicking here.
The top five drivers in ten-lap average during this practice session were:
1. Kyle Busch – 132.554 mph
2. Denny Hamlin – 131.687 mph
3. Ryan Newman – 131.423 mph
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 130.991 mph
5. Tony Stewart – 130.980 mph

The top five drivers in Happy Hour were:
1. Kyle Busch – 136.085 mph
2. David Ragan – 136.034 mph
3. Carl Edwards – 136.024 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 135.993 mph
5. Greg Biffle – 135.716 mph
Complete Happy Hour speeds can be found by clicking here.
The top five drivers in ten-lap average during this practice session were:
1. Kasey Kahne – 131.887 mph
2. David Ragan – 131.548 mph
3. Greg Biffle – 131.369 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 131.311 mph
5. Juan Montoya – 131.075 mph

AVERAGE PRACTICE SPEEDS:

Average practice speeds are calculated by taking the average speed of each driver in each practice and multiplying it by the number of laps ran. When you do this for each practice and add the  totals together, and then divide by the total number of laps ran, you get an average of their practice speed, instead of just the one lap statistic you see when you look at practice sheets. The order that they are in is the overall average speeds rank.

1. Carl Edwards at 131.060 mph over 49 laps
2. Kasey Kahne at 130.534 mph over 72 laps
3. Regan Smith at 130.505 mph over 39 laps
4. Martin Truex, Jr. at 130.463 mph over 47 laps
5. Mark Martin at 130.410 mph over 58 laps
6. Kevin Harvick at 130.372 mph over 62 laps
7. Juan Montoya at 130.369 mph over 48 laps
8. Kurt Busch at 130.356 mph over 76 laps
9. Jamie McMurray at 130.266 mph over 52 laps
10. Paul Menard at 130.151 mph over 54 laps
11. Ryan Newman at 130.044 mph over 52 laps
12. Greg Biffle at 130.028 mph over 52 laps
13. Robby Gordon at 129.951 mph over 50 laps
14. Matt Kenseth at 129.884 mph over 60 laps
15. Denny Hamlin at 129.867 mph over 106 laps
16. David Ragan at 129.842 mph over 65 laps
17. Marcos Ambrose at 129.789 mph over 63 laps
18. Tony Stewart at 129.774 mph over 95 laps
19. Jeff Gordon at 129.706 mph over 65 laps
20. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 129.686 mph over 74 laps
21. Casey Mears at 129.651 mph over 47 laps
22. Clint Bowyer at 129.570 mph over 54 laps
23. Brad Keselowski at 129.538 mph over 70 laps
24. A.J. Allmendinger at 129.538 mph over 71 laps
25. Jimmie Johnson at 129.530 mph over 69 laps
26. David Reutimann at 129.372 mph over 64 laps
27. Brian Vickers at 129.350 mph over 68 laps
28. Joey Logano at 129.335 mph over 82 laps
29. Jeff Burton at 129.301 mph over 72 laps
30. Bobby Labonte at 129.244 mph over 53 laps
31. Trevor Bayne at 129.192 mph over 32 laps
32. David Gilliland at 128.802 mph over 42 laps
33. Kyle Busch at 128.264 mph over 62 laps
34. Travis Kvapil at 128.114 mph over 40 laps
35. Bill Elliott at 126.610 mph over 42 laps
36. Andy Lally at 125.957 mph over 74 laps

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com