Practice Breakdown: Phoenix 2 – Kobalt Tools 500 (Chase Race #9)

With Phoenix International Raceway getting a complete re-pavement and re-configuration, practice speeds (and probably starting position) will be as important as ever this weekend. If you read my Preview from earlier this week (click here if you didn’t), you probably know that I personally think that this ‘new’ Phoenix will race more like Indianapolis, while Ryan thinks it’s going to race more like Richmond (click here for his reasoning). Either way, I’m going to be leaning on practice speeds pretty heavily to make my picks this weekend, and as you probably read in Ryan’s Scouting Report, there isn’t much of a second groove yet, so starting position could be very important. Obviously, after the Nationwide race, we should know more about whether passing will be easy or not on Sunday, though. There were two practice sessions today (Friday) and qualifying will start tomorrow afternoon (1:30 PM eastern). Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 should start around 3:30 PM eastern.

Important Practice Notes: Kyle Busch blew his engine as soon as he fired the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, so he had very limited track time in first practice (23 laps). In Happy Hour, Ryan Newman had a vibration and his team spent much of the session trying to fix it. Newman called it a race-able vibration, whatever that means. Also in the second session, Jamie McMurray had a fuel issue. Last I heard was that they wouldn’t have to change the engine, but I’m not 100% sure on that. Sorry I can’t give you more information on that, practice was on ESPN2, not SPEED, so I didn’t get much information because it wasn’t involving Carl Edwards or Tony Stewart.

In the first practice session on Friday, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Jeff Burton – 140.067 mph
2. Matt Kenseth – 139.925 mph
3. David Ragan – 139.616 mph
4. Paul Menard – 139.605 mph
5. Ryan Newman – 139.540 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. Tony Stewart – 135.611 mph
2. Carl Edwards – 135.436 mph
3. Jeff Gordon – 134.478 mph
4. Jimmie Johnson – 134.271 mph
5. Juan Montoya – 134.142 mph

In the “Happy Hour”, the fast five were:
1. Paul Menard – 141.121 mph
2. Carl Edwards – 140.724 mph
3. Regan Smith – 140.362 mph
4. Brian Vickers – 139.974 mph
5. Kyle Busch – 139.855 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. Kasey Kahne – 136.644 mph
2. Matt Kenseth – 136.429 mph
3. Tony Stewart – 136.325 mph
4. Greg Biffle – 136.166 mph
5. Jamie McMurray –  136.165 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.

1. Brian Vickers at 135.657 mph over 95 laps
2. Martin Truex, Jr. at 135.648 mph over 95 laps
3. Carl Edwards at 135.618 mph over 98 laps
4. Kevin Harvick at 135.595 mph over 98 laps
5. Paul Menard at 135.450 mph over 89 laps
6. Matt Kenseth at 135.411 mph over 117 laps
7. Regan Smith at 135.361 mph over 91 laps
8. Kasey Kahne at 135.332 mph over 140 laps
9. Jeff Burton at 135.330 mph over 113 laps
10. Tony Stewart at 135.238 mph over 145 laps
11. Brad Keselowski at 135.226 mph over 107 laps
12. Ryan Newman at 135.190 mph over 100 laps
13. David Ragan at 135.171 mph over 112 laps
14. A.J. Allmendinger at 135.131 mph over 142 laps
15. Greg Biffle at 135.123 mph over 134 laps
16. Mark Martin at 135.029 mph over 103 laps
17. Jamie McMurray at 135.020 mph over 115 laps
18. Kurt Busch at 135.012 mph over 133 laps
19. Denny Hamlin at 134.988 mph over 108 laps
20. Joey Logano at 134.979 mph over 132 laps
21. Kyle Busch at 134.942 mph over 108 laps
22. Marcos Ambrose at 134.920 mph over 89 laps
23. Clint Bowyer at 134.895 mph over 69 laps
24. Jeff Gordon at 134.887 mph over 105 laps
25. Jimmie Johnson at 134.691 mph over 119 laps
26. David Gilliland at 134.677 mph over 46 laps
27. Juan Montoya at 134.484 mph over 91 laps
28. David Reutimann at 134.418 mph over 113 laps
29. Casey Mears at 134.360 mph over 77 laps
30. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 134.217 mph over 80 laps
31. Landon Cassill at 134.076 mph over 65 laps
32. Bobby Labonte at 133.549 mph over 107 laps
33. Mike Bliss at 132.995 mph over 80 laps
34. Geoff Bodine at 132.072 mph over 77 laps
35. J.J. Yeley at 131.878 mph over 70 laps