Practice Breakdown: Richmond (Crown Royal Presents The Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400)

Two practice sessions were held this afternoon in Richmond and qualifying is set to start in a couple of hours. Practice speeds won’t be as worthless as they were in Talladega a of couple weeks ago, but I don’t know how much significance they will play in terms of predicting who will be good because they were held during the day and the race is at night. Use this practice breakdown however you want to this week. Most of the cars ran limited laps and just qualifying runs in Happy Hour.

Important Practice Notes: J.J. Yeley blew up in Happy Hour. Denny Hamlin scraped the wall in first practice, but there was no major damage.

First practice shook out like this:
1. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 125.465 mph
2. Carl Edwards – 125.313 mph
3. Clint Bowyer – 124.994 mph
4. Paul Menard – 124.711 mph
5. Ryan Newman – 124.608 mph
Complete practice 1 speeds can be found by clicking here.
In terms of ten-lap average, the following were fastest in first practice:
1. Regan Smith – 122.368 mph
2. Denny Hamlin – 121.937 mph
3. Tony Stewart – 121.811 mph
4. Bobby Labonte – 121.164 mph
5. Martin, Truex, Jr. – 121.066 mph

The top five drivers in the second practice session were:
1. Juan Montoya – 125.360 mph
2. Kevin Harvick – 125.354 mph
3. Carl Edwards – 125.145 mph
4. Regan Smith – 124.867 mph
5. Clint Bowyer – 124.378 mph
Complete rankings of this practice can be found by clicking here.
In terms of ten-lap average, the following were fastest in second practice:
1. Jeff Gordon – 121.930 mph
2. Jimmie Johnson – 121.927 mph
3. Kasey Kahne – 121.675 mph
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 121.663 mph
5. Mark Martin – 121.523 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 of the two sessions combined.

1. Mike Skinner at 121.473 mph over 25 laps
2. Carl Edwards at 120.697 mph over 50 laps
3. Kevin Harvick at 120.696 mph over 74 laps
4. Joe Nemechek at 120.533 mph over 25 laps
5. Kasey Kahne at 120.515 mph over 105 laps
6. Kyle Busch at 120.510 mph over 101 laps
7. Juan Montoya at 120.444 mph over 65 laps
8. Martin Truex, Jr. at 120.425 mph over 76 laps
9. Mark Martin at 120.397 mph over 93 laps
10. Clint Bowyer at 120.372 mph over 69 laps
11. Tony Raines at 120.349 mph over 26 laps
12. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 120.271 mph over 83 laps
13. Bobby Labonte at 120.269 mph over 69 laps
14. Matt Kenseth at 120.182 mph over 96 laps
15. A.J. Allmendinger at 120.148 mph over 82 laps
16. Casey Mears at 120.139 mph over 60 laps
17. Tony Stewart at 120.133 mph over 104 laps
18. Brian Vickers at 120.131 mph over 82 laps
19. Jeff Gordon at 120.119 mph over 93 laps
20. David Reutimann at 120.098 mph over 82 laps
21. Regan Smith at 119.994 mph over 81 laps
22. Ryan Newman at 119.992 mph over 82 laps
23. Jimmie Johnson at 119.981 mph over 127 laps
24. Greg Biffle at 119.957 mph over 88 laps
25. Joey Logano at 119.952 mph over 118 laps
26. Brad Keselowski at 119.929 mph over 84 laps
27. David Ragan at 119.876 mph over 94 laps
28. Marcos Ambrose at 119.865 mph over 81 laps
29. Kurt Busch at 119.862 mph over 105 laps
30. Dave Blaney at 119.858 mph over 42 laps
31. Jeff Burton at 119.818 mph over 92 laps
32. Jamie McMurray at 119.775 mph over 89 laps
33. Paul Menard at 119.726 mph over 75 laps
34. Denny Hamlin at 119.708 mph over 124 laps
35. David Stremme at 119.668 mph over 41 laps
36. David Gilliland at 119.600 mph over 59 laps
37. Michael McDowell at 119.549 mph over 48 laps
38. Landon Cassill at 119.538 mph over 75 laps
39. Brian Keselowski at 119.313 mph over 35 laps
40. Robby Gordon at 118.997 mph over 50 laps
41. Travis Kvapil at 118.995 mph over 62 laps
42. J.J. Yeley at 118.921 mph over 25 laps
43. Ken Schrader at 118.776 mph over 70 laps
44. Andy Lally at 117.503 mph over 76 laps