Practice Breakdown: Watkins Glen – Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen

The only two practice sessions of this Watkins Glen weekend were held on Friday afternoon, and the starting lineup will be set on Saturday morning. The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen is scheduled to start around 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. In case you missed my Fantasy Preview that went up on Wednesday, you can read it here and be  sure to check out Ryan’s Scouting Report for making an informed pick at The Glen as well. My final predictions for Sunday’s race should be posted soon after qualifying.

Important Practice Notes: Robby Gordon had a problem in first practice and Jayski reports that it was a power steering line issue. Also in that session, Tony Stewart spun a few times but didn’t hit anything and Casey Mears blew an engine. Matt Kenseth and Robby Gordon got into each other in Happy Hour, with Kenseth getting damage on his splitter and Gordon receiving damage in his rear quarter panel. David Ragan spun out but didn’t hit anything in that session as well. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun in Happy Hour as well but didn’t hit anything. Brian Simo spun and hit the wall later, and I doubt he will make the race. If you couldn’t tell, there were many instances of drivers going off-course. I’m sure I missed some, too.

The five fastest drivers during the first practice session were:
1. Kyle Busch – 125.566 mph
2. Juan Montoya – 125.557 mph
3. A.J. Allmendinger – 125.544 mph
4. Ryan Newman – 125.233 mph
5. Brad Keselowski – 125.185 mph
Complete rankings of this practice session can be found by clicking here.

In Happy Hour, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Marcos Ambrose – 126.604 mph
2. Kurt Busch – 125.795 mph
3. Carl Edwards – 125.761 mph
4. Brad Keselowski – 125.722 mph
5. Martin Truex, Jr. – 125.636 mph
Complete rankings of this practice can be found by clicking here.

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 Friday practice sessions combined.

1. Marcos Ambrose at 124.036 mph over 27 laps
2. Martin Truex, Jr. at 123.025 mph over 35 laps
3. Carl Edwards at 122.692 mph over 34 laps
4. Brad Keselowski at 122.489 mph over 43 laps
5. Kasey Kahne at 122.479 mph over 38 laps
6. Paul Menard at 122.446 mph over 38 laps
7. Juan Montoya at 122.377 mph over 43 laps
8. Kyle Busch at 122.097 mph over 42 laps
9. Jeff Burton at 122.091 mph over 40 laps
10. Kurt Busch at 122.083 mph over 43 laps
11. Joey Logano at 122.077 mph over 36 laps
12. Matt Kenseth at 121.966 mph over 30 laps
13. David Gilliland at 121.965 mph over 21 laps
14. Bobby Labonte at 121.957 mph over 37 laps
15. Greg Biffle at 121.856 mph over 36 laps
16. Jeff Gordon at 121.776 mph over 44 laps
17. A.J. Allmendinger at 121.755 mph over 52 laps
18. Ryan Newman at 121.715 mph over 30 laps
19. Clint Bowyer at 121.618 mph over 40 laps
20. Jimmie Johnson at 121.573 mph over 40 laps
21. David Reutimann at 121.473 mph over 31 laps
22. Denny Hamlin at 121.395 mph over 43 laps
23. Tony Stewart at 121.341 mph over 43 laps
24. Jamie McMurray at 121.288 mph over 43 laps
25. Ron Fellows at 121.200 mph over 26 laps
26. Kevin Harvick at 121.198 mph over 31 laps
27. Boris Said at 121.084 mph over 35 laps
28. Regan Smith at 120.915 mph over 47 laps
29. Brian Vickers at 120.838 mph over 49 laps
30. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 120.793 mph over 46 laps
31. Andy Lally at 120.548 mph over 36 laps
32. Andrew Ranger at 120.077 mph over 32 laps
33. Mark Martin at 119.973 mph over 27 laps
34. David Ragan at 119.577 mph over 48 laps
35. Casey Mears at 117.552 mph over 26 laps

Go-or-Go-Homer’s Average Speed:

1. Dave Blaney at 121.654 mph over 10 laps
2. Joe Nemechek at 121.561 mph over 10 laps
3. Michael McDowell at 121.251 mph over 11 laps
4. PJ Jones at 121.232 mph over 13 laps
5. J.J. Yeley at 121.228 mph over 15 laps
6. Robby Gordon at 120.399 mph over 13 laps
7. Mike Skinner at 120.089 mph over 12 laps
8. Terry Labonte at 119.129 mph over 28 laps
9. Brian Simo at 118.880 mph over 25 laps
10. Scott Speed at 118.181 mph over 11 laps
11. T.J. Bell at 117.290 mph over 27 laps