Average Practice Speeds: California 2 (Pepsi Max 400)

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Jamie McMurray blew everyone away in qualifying (literally--the second fastest driver, Elliott Sadler, was almost two tenths of a second slower) for his fourth pole of the year and second in a row at the Auto Club Speedway. Click here to see they will line up on Sunday. Reed Sorenson spun at the end of first practice but didn't seem to mess up his car much as he didn't hit anything.

Click on the links (underlined portions) to go to practice speed charts.

Top 5 for Practice Two:
1. Greg Biffle
2. Matt Kenseth
3. David Reutimann
4. Jamie McMurray
5. Jeff Gordon

Top 5 for Happy Hour:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Greg Biffle
5. Kevin Harvick

10-Lap Average speeds are much more important than one fast lap.
The top ten fastest at 10-lap averages in happy hour were:

1. Mark Martin
2. Jamie McMurray
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Kyle Busch
7. Regan Smith
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Juan Montoya
10. Joey Logano

10-lap average speeds in Saturday's first practice:

1. Greg Biffle
2. A.J. Allmendinger
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Jeff Burton
5. Elliott Sadler
6. Casey Mears
7. Regan Smith
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Juan Montoya
10. David Ragan

Average 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 two totals together, and then divide by the total number of laps ran, you get a pretty good indicator on who has a fast car. The order that they are in is the overall average speeds rank. In parenthesis after each driver will be their rank of average speed in Happy Hour, which will probably be more helpful since most teams used that practice to dial in their car. 


1. Jamie McMurray @ 175.835 mph over 57 laps - 1st in happy hour average speed
2. Paul Menard @ 175.565 mph over 49 laps - 2nd in happy hour average speed
3. Greg Biffle @ 175.528 mph over 62 laps - 3rd in happy hour average speed
4. Casey Mears @ 175.428 mph over 39 laps - 14th in happy hour average speed
5. Marcos Ambrose @ 175.326 mph over 41 laps - 5th in happy hour average speed
6. Elliott Sadler @ 175.277 mph over 51 laps - 10th in happy hour average speed
7. Juan Montoya @ 175.239 mph over 52 laps - 7th in happy hour average speed
8. Matt Kenseth @ 175.099 mph over 44 laps - 22nd in happy hour average speed
9. A.J. Allmendinger @ 175.090 mph over 61 laps - 19th in happy hour average speed
10. Jeff Gordon @ 175.084 mph over 61 laps - 4th in happy hour average speed
11. Kasey Kahne @ 175.082 mph over 56 laps - 9th in happy hour average speed
12. Denny Hamlin @ 175.059 mph over 67 laps - 6th in happy hour average speed
13. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. @ 175.021 mph over 54 laps - 27th in happy hour average speed
14. Kevin Harvick @ 174.949 mph over 67 laps - 8th in happy hour average speed
15. Jimmie Johnson @ 174.942 mph over 54 laps - 13th in happy hour average speed
16. Kyle Busch @ 174.923 mph over 77 laps - 23rd in happy hour average speed
17. Mark Martin @ 174.912 mph over 74 laps - 17th in happy hour average speed
18. Carl Edwards @ 174.876 mph over 52 laps - 24th in happy hour average speed
19. David Reutimann @ 174.795 mph over 56 laps - 15th in happy hour average speed
20. David Ragan @ 174.780 mph over 66 laps - 28th in happy hour average speed
21. Joey Logano @ 174.773 mph over 70 laps - 11th in happy hour average speed
22. Clint Bowyer @ 174.742 mph over 75 laps - 12th in happy hour average speed
23. Ryan Newman @ 174.590 mph over 53 laps - 26th in happy hour average speed
24. Tony Stewart @ 174.542 mph over 56 laps - 18th in happy hour average speed
25. Scott Speed @ 174.527 mph over 40 laps - 16th in happy hour average speed
26. Martin Truex, Jr. @ 174.494 mph over 62 laps - 20th in happy hour average speed
27. Regan Smith @ 174.383 mph over 55 laps - 25th in happy hour average speed
28. Jeff Burton @ 174.238 mph over 74 laps - 21st in happy hour average speed
29. Sam Hornish, Jr. @ 174.059 mph over 50 laps - 29th in happy hour average speed
30. Reed Sorenson @ 173.859 mph over 44 laps - 30th in happy hour average speed
31. Brad Keselowski @ 173.770 mph over 54 laps - 31st in happy hour average speed
32. Kurt Busch @ 173.734 mph over 54 laps - 32nd in happy hour average speed