Average Practice Speeds: Las Vegas Kobalt Tools 400

The was one practice session on Friday in Las Vegas, but I won’t be paying much attention to those speeds. It was a ‘qualifying practice’, where most cars that matter were in qualifying trim for the majority of the session. Kasey Kahne avoided the wall in qualifying and grabbed the pole for Sunday. Click here for the complete starting lineup. The average practice speeds shown below are the combined speeds from the two practice sessions held on Saturday. Every car was in race trim during those two practices, so the average speeds shouldn’t be skewed too much. I’m starting on my Predictions for tomorrow’s Kobalt Tools 400 as soon as I hit the ‘Publish’ button on this post, so be sure to check that out once it goes up.

Important Practice Notes: Juan Montoya drilled the wall in first practice without even completing a lap. It was believed that a brake rotor came off of his car and caused some damage to Kyle Busch‘s and Jeff Burton‘s cars. Montoya went to a backup, but the other two just made repairs. Still, they lost valuable track time. Soon after, Travis Kvapil blew his engine and, obviously, went to a backup. In the first Saturday practice, Kyle Busch scraped the wall, and after so told his crew that his car was “killed”. They went to a backup and Kyle’s speeds from first practice have been removed from the average speed calculation. In Happy Hour, Jimmie Johnson kept the wall smacking tradition going, and went to a backup. Johnson’s speeds from first practice have been removed from the average speed calculation. Shortly after, Marcos Ambrose spun off of turn four. It was reported–near the end of Happy Hour–that Greg Biffle had a problem with his engine. Last I heard, it was just a spark plug issue and they weren’t planning on switching engines.

In the first practice session (held on Friday) the five fastest drivers were:
1. Jimmie Johnson – 188.140 mph
2. Clint Bowyer – 188.134 mph
3. Tony Stewart – 188.127 mph
4. Marcos Ambrose – 187.813 mph
5. Greg Biffle – 187.656 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

In the second practice, which was the first session on Saturday, the fastest were:
1. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 184.957 mph
2. Kasey Kahne – 184.754 mph
3. A.J. Allmendinger – 184.666 mph
4. Jimmie Johnson – 184.489 mph
5. Kyle Busch – 184.187 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

In terms of ten-lap average, the top five for second practice were:
1. Jimmie Johnson – 183.302 mph
2. Kevin Harvick – 183.075 mph
3. Kyle Busch – 182.917 mph
4. Paul Menard – 182.539 mph
5. Brad Keselowski – 182.357 mph
Click here for the complete ten-lap average chart for practice two.

In Happy Hour, the fast five were:
1. Joey Logano – 182.970 mph
2. Mark Martin – 182.698 mph
3. Kevin Harvick – 182.698 mph
4. Marcos Ambrose – 182.618 mph
5. Martin Truex, Jr. – 182.618 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

When it came to ten-lap average, the best for Happy Hour were:
1. Kyle Busch – 179.626 mph
2. Mark Martin – 179.490 mph
3. Jimmie Johnson – 179.365 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 179.298 mph
5. Kevin Harvick – 179.248 mph
Click here for the complete ten-lap average chart for Happy Hour.

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. I have found over the years that this is much more accurate as to whether or not someone has a car that is good for one lap or one that can consistently be fast. These numbers, however, can be skewed if a team puts new tires on frequently or rarely changes the tires. The average speeds below are the combined average speeds from the last two practice sessions of the weekend, which were both held on Saturday. Ten or fifteen drivers’ laps were skewed in Happy Hour due to Johnson and Ambrose’s wrecks. I have eliminated those speeds.