Average Practice Speeds: Fontana – Auto Club 400

This was another weekend with practice both before and after qualifying in Fontana. The Saturday practice speeds are the only ones I care about (all cars were working on race trim then) so the ones from the Friday session won’t be included in the average practice speeds shown below. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch swept the front row in qualifying, and you can find the complete starting lineup by clicking here. The last time I checked, the Sprint Cup Series probably won’t be racing on Sunday. You can keep up on the weather situation in Fontana by clicking here.

Be sure to come back later today and check out my post-Happy Hour predictions for the Auto Club 400. Also, follow me on Twitter! – @FanNASCARPredic — you can ask me for advice if you’d like!

Important Practice Notes: Clint Bowyer barely scraped the wall at the beginning of Happy Hour. No major damage, I’m not worrying about it. Kyle Busch had a problem with a sticking throttle, but I was told on Twitter it was fixed soon after (a spring came loose).

In the first practice session (held on Friday) the five fastest drivers were:
1. Clint Bowyer – 185.109 mph
2. Mark Martin – 184.322 mph
3. Kasey Kahne – 183.946 mph
4. Brad Keselowski – 183.290 mph
5. Denny Hamlin – 183.187 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. Denny Hamlin – 186.018 mph
2. Matt Kenseth – 185.209 mph
3. Ryan Newman – 184.928 mph
4. Tony Stewart – 184.554 mph
5. Kevin Harvick – 184.270 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

In terms of ten-lap average, the top five for second practice were:
1. Denny Hamlin – 181.527 mph
2. Ryan Newman – 180.802 mph
3. Tony Stewart – 180.720 mph
4. Clint Bowyer – 180.436 mph
5. Carl Edwards – 180.230 mph
Click here for the complete ten-lap average chart for practice two.

In Happy Hour, the fast five were:
1. Denny Hamlin – 182.034 mph
2. Jeff Gordon – 181.360 mph
3. Clint Bowyer – 181.214 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 181.132 mph
5. Kyle Busch – 181.050 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

When it came to ten-lap average, the best for Happy Hour were:
1. Denny Hamlin – 178.960 mph
2. Matt Kenseth – 177.977 mph
3. Kyle Busch – 177.943 mph
4. Jamie McMurray – 177.881 mph
5. Jimmie Johnson – 177.784 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. Those marked in red will probably start and park.