Practice Breakdown: Martinsville 2 – Tums Fast Relief 500 (Chase Race #7)
Rain almost completely washed away this weekend’s schedule at Martinsville Speedway, but the Sprint Cup Series was able to get one practice session in on Saturday afternoon. Qualifying was cancelled and the starting lineup was set by points, meaning Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green on Sunday afternoon for the Tums Fast Relief 500. The entire lineup can be found by clicking here. Also, in case you missed my Fantasy Preview from earlier in the week, you can view that by clicking here.
Important Practice Notes: I was busy and didn’t get a chance to watch practice, but from what I read on Twitter, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch were experiencing engine problems (ignition boxes). Also, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick bumped into each other a couple times and exchanged a few words. From what I’ve heard, neither car suffered any significant damage.
In the lone practice session of the weekend, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Michael McDowell – 95.893 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 95.781 mph
3. Jimmie Johnson – 95.752 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 95.709 mph
5. Scott Speed – 95.670 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. Jimmie Johnson – 95.322 mph
2. Jamie McMurray – 95.234 mph
3. Jeff Gordon – 95.174 mph
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 95.065 mph
5. Marcos Ambrose – 94.898 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.
- Jamie McMurray at 94.459 mph over 85 laps
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 94.046 mph over 101 laps
- David Reutimann at 93.892 mph over 51 laps
- Clint Bowyer at 93.855 mph over 62 laps
- A.J. Allmendinger at 93.814 mph over 89 laps
- Martin Truex, Jr. at 93.749 mph over 57 laps
- Kurt Busch at 93.748 mph over 68 laps
- Juan Montoya at 93.728 mph over 66 laps
- Kevin Harvick at 93.727 mph over 65 laps
- Bobby Labonte at 93.720 mph over 73 laps
- Ryan Newman at 93.694 mph over 86 laps
- Marcos Ambrose at 93.657 mph over 60 laps
- Mark Martin at 93.576 mph over 63 laps
- David Ragan at 93.570 mph over 102 laps
- Jeff Gordon at 93.549 mph over 81 laps
- Jimmie Johnson at 93.499 mph over 107 laps
- Joey Logano at 93.404 mph over 78 laps
- Regan Smith at 93.378 mph over 76 laps
- Tony Stewart at 93.355 mph over 86 laps
- David Stremme at 93.351 mph over 22 laps
- Paul Menard at 93.338 mph over 90 laps
- Brian Vickers at 93.302 mph over 99 laps
- Denny Hamlin at 93.299 mph over 97 laps
- Brad Keselowski at 93.093 mph over 71 laps
- J.J. Yeley at 93.092 mph over 14 laps
- Reed Sorenson at 93.085 mph over 5 laps
- Kasey Kahne at 93.078 mph over 73 laps
- Casey Mears at 93.078 mph over 58 laps
- Greg Biffle at 93.054 mph over 76 laps
- Matt Kenseth at 93.047 mph over 72 laps
- Kyle Busch at 93.013 mph over 107 laps
- Jeff Burton at 92.838 mph over 66 laps
- Carl Edwards at 92.818 mph over 68 laps
- Mike Skinner at 92.813 mph over 24 laps
- Scott Speed at 92.571 mph over 23 laps
- Joe Nemechek at 92.614 mph over 6 laps
- Landon Cassill at 92.541 mph over 43 laps
- Michael McDowell at 92.350 mph over 40 laps
- Dave Blaney at 92.280 mph over 34 laps
- David Gilliland at 92.244 mph over 50 laps
- Ken Schrader at 91.710 mph over 47 laps
- Travis Kvapil at 91.369 mph over 42 laps
- Hermie Sadley at 90.666 mph over 42 laps
