Practice Breakdown: Kansas 2 – Hollywood Casino 400 (Chase Race #4)

The schedule this weekend is one that I really like: there was a practice session held on Friday afternoon, and that was followed by qualifying. On Saturday afternoon, two additional NASCAR had to additional practice sessions for the teams to perfect their race cars for the race on Sunday. By having data from practices that occurred after qualifying, we don’t have to guess whether or not the averages times were skewed by qualifying runs: all cars were in race trim for both practice sessions on Saturday. In the average speed chart at the bottom of this article, I have excluded the speeds that the cars ran during Friday’s practice. Greg Biffle beat out his team-mate, Carl Edwards, in qualifying for the eight pole of his career. The full starting lineup for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 can be found by clicking here.

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Important Practice Notes: Pretty boring weekend of practices. No spins, no major problems, nothing. Clint Boywer ended Happy Hour about 20 minutes early if that’s newsworthy for you.

The top five drivers in the first “qualifying” practice session (held on Friday) were:
1. Paul Menard – 174.059 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 173.494 mph
3. Jeff Gordon – 173.321 mph
4. David Reutimann – 173.182 mph
5. Matt Kenseth – 173.066 mph
Complete rankings of practice one can be found by clicking here.

In the second practice session, which was the first on Saturday, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Kevin Harvick – 170.401 mph
2. Jimmie Johnson – 170.057 mph
3. Carl Edwards – 169.998 mph
4. David Ragan – 169.929 mph
5. Greg Biffle – 169.875 mph
Complete rankings of this practice can be found by clicking here.
In terms of ten-lap average, the following were fastest during this practice session:
1. David Ragan – 166.149 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 165.965 mph
3. Jimmie Johnson – 165.942 mph
4. Kyle Busch – 165.845 mph
5. Matt Kenseth – 165.456 mph

In Happy Hour, which was the second and final practice on Saturday, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Clint Bowyer – 169.737 mph
2. David Ragan – 168.961 mph
3. Matt Kenseth – 168.845 mph
4. Jimmie Johnson – 168.724 mph
5. Mark Martin – 168.146 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. Matt Kenseth – 166.149 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 166.112 mph
3. Jimmie Johnson – 165.745 mph
4. Mark Martin – 165.302 mph
5. David Ragan – 165.286 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 that were held on Saturday combined. The practice speeds from the Friday practice have been excluded from these calculations.

1. Clint Bowyer at 164.943 mph over 57 laps
2. Kasey Kahne at 164.893 mph over 57 laps
3. David Ragan at 164.822 mph over 64 laps
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 164.781 mph over 57 laps
5. Kevin Harvick at 164.780 mph over 73 laps
6. Carl Edwards at 164.629 mph over 59 laps
7. Mark Martin at 164.594 mph over 76 laps
8. Brian Vickers at 164.468 mph over 48 laps
9. Greg Biffle at 164.461 mph over 66 laps
10. Paul Menard at 164.401 mph over 69 laps
11. Marcos Ambrose at 164.389 mph over 64 laps
12. Jimmie Johnson at 164.387 mph over 101 laps
13. Matt Kenseth at 164.376 mph over 86 laps
14. Juan Montoya at 164.367 mph over 39 laps
15. Jamie McMurray at 164.345 mph over 68 laps
16. Martin Truex, Jr. at 164.262 mph over 75 laps
17. Kurt Busch at 164.173 mph over 53 laps
18. Tony Stewart at 164.018 mph over 73 laps
19. Brad Keselowski at 164.011 mph over 83 laps
20. David Reutimann at 163.981 mph over 67 laps
21. Kyle Busch at 163.906 mph over 98 laps
22. Jeff Burton at 163.906 mph over 58 laps
23. Denny Hamlin at 163.901 mph over 55 laps
24. Ryan Newman at 163.813 mph over 73 laps
25. Regan Smith at 163.800 mph over 76 laps
26. Jeff Gordon at 163.675 mph over 87 laps
27. Casey Mears at 163.545 mph over 28 laps
28. Scott Speed at 163.443 mph over 40 laps
29. Austin Dillon at 163.248 mph over 54 laps
30. Bobby Labonte at 163.187 mph over 61 laps
31. Travis Kvapil at 163.155 mph over 43 laps
32. Dave Blaney at 163.062 mph over 30 laps
33. Joe Nemechek at 163.016 mph over 18 laps
34. Joey Logano at 162.952 mph over 71 laps
35. Landon Cassill at 162.883 mph over 75 laps
36. David Stremme at 162.744 mph over 12 laps
37. Reed Sorenson at 162.506 mph over 7 laps
38. J.J. Yeley at 162.358 mph over 44 laps
39. Michael McDowell at 161.744 mph over 33 laps
40. Andy Lally at 161.732 mph over 37 laps
41. David Gilliland at 161.526 mph over 29 laps
42. A.J. Allmendinger at 161.437 mph over 50 laps
43. Mike Bliss at 161.411 mph over 53 laps