Practice Breakdown: Chicago – Geico 400 (Chase Race #1)

Two practice sessions were held Friday afternoon/evening for this weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. In case you missed Ryan’s Scouting Report for the week (click here to read it) he considers practice to be very important in making good picks at this race track. I didn’t get to watch either practice session live but from looking at the numbers, it seems like some Chase teams are struggling going into qualifying Saturday. The Geico 400 should be an interesting race on Sunday afternoon.

Important Practice Notes: Brad Keselowski’s team thought there might be a problem with the engine in first practice but changed the spark plugs and seemed to think that fixed it. In that same session, Carl Edwards’ team changed the carburetor in the #99 Ford because of a possible problem with the fuel pickup. Also in that session, Mike Skinner blew an engine and will now have to start at the back of the pack on Sunday. In Happy Hour, Dave Blaney spun but didn’t get any major damage.

The top five drivers in the first practice session were:

1. David Reutimann – 183.138 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 182.964 mph
3. Mark Martin – 182.883 mph
4. Kyle Busch – 182.846 mph
5. Trevor Bayne – 182.723 mph

Complete rankings of practice one can be found by clicking here.
The five fastest over ten consecutive laps in first practice were:

1. David Reutimann – 178.751 mph
2. Paul Menard – 178.373 mph
3. David Ragan – 178.076 mph
4. Matt Kenseth – 178.035 mph
5. Clint Bowyer – 177.929 mph

In Happy Hour, the five fastest drivers were:

1. Brian Vickers – 184.275 mph
2. Kasey Kahne – 184.087 mph
3. Matt Kenseth – 183.536 mph
4. Paul Menard – 183.374 mph
5. Kevin Harvick – 183.331 mph

Complete rankings of this practice can be found by clicking here.
In terms of ten-lap average, the following were fastest in Happy Hour:

1. Jamie McMurray – 179.031 mph
2. David Reutimann – 178.781 mph
3. Clint Bowyer – 178.028 mph
4. Jeff Gordon – 177.995 mph
5. Mark Martin – 177.955 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 practice session combined.

1. Carl Edwards at 178.378 mph over 62 laps
2. Mark Martin at 178.350 mph over 82 laps
3. David Reutimann at 178.326 mph over 91 laps
4. Kevin Harvick at 178.306 mph over 77 laps
5. Greg Biffle at 177.869 mph over 78 laps
6. Kasey Kahne at 177.821 mph over 83 laps
7. Jamie McMurray at 177.805 mph over 59 laps
8. Kurt Busch at 177.579 mph over 96 laps
9. Matt Kenseth at 177.533 mph over 92 laps
10. Paul Menard at 177.425 mph over 86 laps
11. David Ragan at 177.386 mph over 68 laps
12. Marcos Ambrose at 177.366 mph over 88 laps
13. Clint Bowyer at 177.347 mph over 76 laps
14. Denny Hamlin at 177.311 mph over 85 laps
15. Jeff Gordon at 177.306 mph over 92 laps
16. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 177.243 mph over 75 laps
17. Brad Keselowski at 177.238 mph over 115 laps
18. Ryan Newman at 177.230 mph over 94 laps
19. Brian Vickers at 177.132 mph over 101 laps
20. Regan Smith at 177.084 mph over 92 laps
21. Tony Stewart at 177.077 mph over 93 laps
22. Kyle Busch at 176.966 mph over 96 laps
23. A.J. Allmendinger at 176.965 mph over 102 laps
24. Jimmie Johnson at 176.934 mph over 73 laps
25. Martin Truex, Jr. at 176.849 mph over 74 laps
26. Juan Montoya at 176.789 mph over 92 laps
27. Joey Logano at 176.788 mph over 99 laps
28. Landon Cassill at 176.760 mph over 86 laps
29. Bobby Labonte at 176.517 mph over 71 laps
30. Andy Lally at 176.259 mph over 58 laps
31. Casey Mears at 175.989 mph over 50 laps
32. Jeff Burton at 175.253 mph over 96 laps
33. David Gilliland at 175.251 mph over 42 laps
34. Mike Bliss at 174.499 mph over 68 laps
35. Dave Blaney at 174.093 mph over 49 laps

Go-or-Go-Homer’s Average Speeds:

1. David Stremme at 181.264 mph over 13 laps
2. Stephen Leicht at 179.770 mph over 9 laps
3. Michael McDowell at 179.242 mph over 14 laps
4. Joe Nemechek at 178.951 mph over 15 laps
5. Trevor Bayne at 178.359 mph over 47 laps
6. Travis Kvapil at 178.114 mph over 20 laps
7. Josh Wise at 177.250 mph over 24 laps
8. J.J. Yeley at 177.076 mph over 28 laps
9. Scott Speed at 176.754 mph over 25 laps
10. Mike Skinner at 176.641 mph over 13 laps
11. Robby Gordon at 176.072 mph over 20 laps
12. David Starr at 175.833 mph over 34 laps