Practice Breakdown: Las Vegas (Kobalt Tools 400)

Finally we get some practice speeds that will help predict the race. There were two practice sessions held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. The first one was on Friday before qualifying and the second one (“Happy Hour”) was held Saturday afternoon. Happy Hour will be very helpful in determining who will have a fast car during the race, as all of the cars were in race trim while practicing. I wouldn’t put much emphasis on first practice, as some (if not all) of the laps were ran while each car was in qualifying trim. The average practice speeds (shown below) is the cumulative total of both practice sessions. I will only be paying attention to what is in parenthesis (their average speed rank in Happy Hour), but feel free to use either ranking while deciding your rosters.

Important Practice Notes: Last week’s winner, Jeff Gordon, spun early in first practice but kept it off the wall with no damage. Travis Kvapil hit the wall in the same practice session (surprise, huh?) but I’m not sure how much damage he got (nor do I know why you would pick him, as I’m pretty sure he’s wrecked everything he has been in this year.)

The first practice session on Friday shook out like this:
1. Matt Kenseth – 186.599 mph
2. David Ragan – 186.297 mph
3. Juan Montoya – 185.957 mph
4. Carl Edwards – 185.893 mph
5. Greg Biffle – 185.675 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. Casey Mears – 178.603 mph
2. No other cars ran ten consecutive laps.
3. No other cars ran ten consecutive laps.
4. No other cars ran ten consecutive laps.
5. No other cars ran ten consecutive laps.

The top five drivers in Happy Hour were:
1. Matt Kenseth – 184.112 mph
2. Kyle Busch – 183.717 mph
3. Ryan Newman – 183.680 mph
4. Carl Edwards – 183.630 mph
5. Greg Biffle – 183.511 mph
Complete Happy Hour speeds can be found by clicking here.
The top five drivers in ten-lap average during Happy Hour were:
1. Kyle Busch – 182.541 mph
2. Carl Edwards – 182.419 mph
3. Matt Kenseth – 182.163 mph
4. A.J. Allmendinger – 182.001 mph
5. Paul Menard – 181.979 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 and in parenthesis you will find their ranking (in terms of average speed) in Happy Hour.

1. Carl Edwards at 182.577 mph over 46 laps (ranked 1st in Happy Hour average speed)
2. Paul Menard at 181.586 mph over 58 laps (ranked 3rd in Happy Hour average speed)
3. Jimmie Johnson at 181.209 mph over 51 laps (Ranked 20th in Happy Hour average speed)
4. Greg Biffle at 181.184 mph over 65 laps (Ranked 2nd in Happy Hour average speed)
5. Matt Kenseth at 181.127 mph over 67 laps (Ranked 6th in Happy Hour average speed)
6. Trevor Bayne at 181.062 mph over 59 laps (Ranked 10th in Happy Hour average speed)
7. Kyle Busch at 181.000 mph over 79 laps (Ranked 5th in Happy Hour average speed)
8. Tony Stewart at 180.913 mph over 78 laps (Ranked 4th in Happy Hour average speed)
9. Martin Truex, Jr. at 180.892 mph over 74 laps (Ranked 7th in Happy Hour average speed)
10. David Reutimann at 180.781 mph over 74 laps (Ranked 9th in Happy Hour average speed)
11. Juan Montoya at 180.675 mph over 57 laps (Ranked 17th in Happy Hour average speed)
12. Marcos Ambrose at 180.553 mph over 76 laps (Ranked 12th in Happy Hour average speed)
13. Ryan Newman at 180.457 mph over 77 laps (Ranked 14th in Happy Hour average speed)
14. Kasey Kahne at 180.442 mph over 64 laps (Ranked 13th in Happy Hour average speed)
15. Joey Logano at 180.295 mph over 73 laps (Ranked 16th in Happy Hour average speed)
16. Kurt Busch at 180.195 mph over 62 laps (Ranked 18th in Happy Hour average speed)
17. David Ragan at 180.174 mph over 77 laps (Ranked 19th in Happy Hour average speed)
18. Jeff Burton at 180.117 mph over 78 laps (Ranked 11th in Happy Hour average speed)
19. Mark Martin at 180.008 mph over 72 laps (Ranked 15th in Happy Hour average speed)
20. A.J. Allmendinger at 179.891 mph over 80 laps (Ranked 8th in Happy Hour average speed)
21. Joe Nemechek at 179.772 mph over 15 laps (Ranked 29th in Happy Hour average speed)
22. Brad Keselowski at 179.768 mph over 70 laps (Ranked 25th in Happy Hour average speed)
23. Clint Bowyer at 179.768 mph over 61 laps (Ranked 22nd in Happy Hour average speed)
24. David Gilliland at 179.325 mph over 35 laps (Ranked 30th in Happy Hour average speed)
25. Bobby Labonte at 179.204 mph over 58 laps (Ranked 26th in Happy Hour average speed)
26. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 179.158 mph over 52 laps (Ranked 27th in Happy Hour average speed)
27. Brian Vickers at 179.153 mph over 80 laps (Ranked 28th in Happy Hour average speed)
28. Denny Hamlin at 178.995 mph over 64 laps (Ranked 33rd in Happy Hour average speed)
29. Casey Mears at 178.974 mph over 47 laps (Ranked 24th in Happy Hour average speed)
30. Jamie McMurray at 178.681 mph over 66 laps (Ranked 34th in Happy Hour average speed)
31. Robby Gordon at 178.580 mph over 29 laps (Ranked 31st in Happy Hour average speed)
32. Kevin Harvick at 178.423 mph over 54 laps (Ranked 21st in Happy Hour average speed)
33. J.J. Yeley at 178.003 mph over 22 laps (Ranked 39th in Happy Hour average speed)
34. Bill Elliott at 177.770 mph over 44 laps (Ranked 36th in Happy Hour average speed)
35. Mike Skinner at 177.325 mph over 25 laps (Ranked 35th in Happy Hour average speed)
36. Landon Cassill at 177.260 mph over 43 laps (Ranked 38th in Happy Hour average speed)
37. Jeff Gordon at 177.195 mph over 59 laps (Ranked 32nd in Happy Hour average speed)
38. Dave Blaney at 176.615 mph over 34 laps (Ranked 40th in Happy Hour average speed)
39. Regan Smith at 176.435 mph over 57 laps (Ranked 23rd in Happy Hour average speed)
40. Andy Lally at 176.204 mph over 64 laps (Ranked 37th in Happy Hour average speed)
41. Travis Kvapil at 175.545 mph over 39 laps (Ranked 41st in Happy Hour average speed)
42. Michael McDowell at 175.295 mph over 26 laps (Ranked 43rd in Happy Hour average speed)
43. Tony Raines at 175.153 mph over 29 laps (Ranked 42nd in Happy Hour average speed)