Average Practice Speeds: Talladega – Aaron’s 499

The Pack Will Be Back At Talladega

I generally take the superspeedway weeks off from posting anything, but for anyone that may want to use these numbers, this post is for you. I find practice speeds somewhat worthless–and qualifying completely worthless–but sometimes I use these as a “tiebreaker” if I can’t pick between a couple drivers. Also, a Predictions post will go up later tonight, so check that out as well. Qualifying is set to start on Saturday at noon, and there will be no more practice after the starting lineup is set.

NOTICE: Ever want to join a fantasy NASCAR game mid-season? Well, with my site, Fantasy-Racing-Online.com, you can and still win prize money! By joining this late in the season, you’d be mathematically eliminated from the overall game prizes, but you could still win up to $900. Interested? Click here for more information. Also, you can follow me on Twitter if you’d like–@FanNASCARPredic. Be sure to sign up for ifantasyrace.com Premium Content as well (click here).

Important Practice Notes: Kevin Harvick ran very limited laps in total. He seemed to really like his car. It was reported that Joey Logano had a problem with cooling in first practice. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. reported a clutch problem in first practice but it looked like the team fixed it, as he did run in Happy Hour. Also, Clint Bowyer thought he had “a void” in his brakes. I didn’t hear anything else about it after it was reported.

In the first practice session, the five fastest drivers were:
1. Aric Almirola – 199.172 mph
2. Michael Waltrip – 198.343 mph
3. Matt Kenseth – 197.986 mph
4. Jeff Gordon – 197.843 mph
5. Kevin Harvick – 197.725 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

In terms of ten-lap average, the top five for first practice were:
1. Brad Keselowski – 195.697 mph
2. Kevin Harvick – 195.567 mph
3. David Ragan – 195.556 mph
4. Carl Edwards – 195.443 mph
5. Tony Stewart – 195.371 mph
Click here for the complete ten-lap average chart for practice one.

In “Happy Hour”, the fast five were:
1. Aric Almirola – 196.725 mph
2. Matt Kenseth – 196.685 mph
3. Greg Biffle – 196.105 mph
4. Denny Hamlin – 195.692 mph
5. Regan Smith – 195.620 mph
Click here for the complete results from this practice.

When it came to ten-lap average, the best for Happy Hour were:
1. Regan Smith – 192.986 mph
2. Aric Almirola – 192.864 mph
3. Denny Hamlin – 190.020 mph
4. Clint Bowyer – 189.179 mph
5. Jeff Gordon – 188.779 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. Those marked in red did not participate in Happy Hour. (*) = Go or go homer.