Average Practice Speeds: Talladega 2 (Amp Energy Juice 500)

Don't Put Much Emphasis On Practice Speeds


Both practices for this weekend's race were held on Friday, and the cars will qualify Saturday afternoon. As usual don't base your picks on practice, whether or not that is average speeds or just the practice sheets. Many cars barely practiced in Happy Hour because they either didn't want to take a chance of wrecking, or they were so satisfied with their car that they didn't deem practice as necessary.


Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Juan Montoya, Martin Truex, Jr., Elliott Sadler, Clint Boywer, Jamie McMurray, and Brad Keselowski DID NOT PARTICIPATE in Happy Hour.


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

Top 5 for Practice One:
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Jimmie Johnson

Top 5 for Happy Hour:
1. Mark Martin
2. Jeff Burton
3. Kurt Busch
4. Denny Hamlin
5. David Reutimann

10-Lap Average speeds

The top ten fastest at 10-lap averages in Happy Hour were:

1. Kurt Busch
2. Jeff Burton
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
5. Mark Martin
6. Chad McCumbee
7. David Reutimann
8. Aric Almirola
9. Regan Smith
10. Carl Edwards

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

1. Jamie McMurray
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Carl Edwards
4. Joey Logano
5. David Reutimann
6. Mark Martin
7. David Ragan
8. Aric Almirola
9. Clint Bowyer
10. Marcos Ambrose

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 (although that doesn't really apply to races at Talladega and Daytona). 


1. David Reutimann @ 187.305 mph over 45 laps
2. Jeff Gordon @ 187.016 mph over 27 laps
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. @ 186.621 mph over 43 laps
4. Carl Edwards @ 186.467 mph over 47 laps
5. Mark Martin @ 186.423 mph over 24 laps
6. Regan Smith @ 186.400 mph over 36 laps
7. Brad Keselowski @ 186.095 mph over 16 laps
8. Kurt Busch @ 185.927 mph over 45 laps
9. Joey Logano @ 185.740 mph over 36 laps
10. Jamie McMurray @ 185.334 mph over 19 laps
11. David Ragan @ 185.260 mph over 14 laps
12. Clint Bowyer @ 185.197 mph over 23 laps
13. Marcos Ambrose @ 185.164 mph over 39 laps
14. Tony Stewart @ 184.944 mph over 24 laps
15. Martin Truex, Jr. @ 184.165 mph over 17 laps
16. Sam Hornish, Jr. @ 183.708 mph over 24 laps
17. Kasey Kahne @ 183.579 mph over 34 laps
18. Paul Menard @ 183.529 mph over 28 laps
19. Kyle Busch @ 183.412 mph over 38 laps
20. Greg Biffle @ 183.058 mph over 27 laps
21. Jimmie Johnson @ 182.336 mph over 24 laps
22. Aric Almirola @ 182.127 mph over 39 laps
23. Elliott Sadler @ 182.007 mph over 13 laps
24. Denny Hamlin @ 181.982 mph over 36 laps
25. David Gilliland @ 181.765 mph over 20 laps
26. Matt Kenseth @ 181.331 mph over 36 laps
27. Jeff Burton @ 179.476 mph over 44 laps
28. Scott Speed @ 178.082 mph over 25 laps
29. Bobby Labonte @ 178.070 mph over 21 laps
30. Kevin Harvick @ 176.348 mph over 19 laps
31. A.J. Allmendinger @ 175.462 mph over 23 laps
32. Ryan Newman @ 173.542 mph over 13 laps
33. Dave Blaney @ 173.405 mph over 14 laps
34. Juan Montoya @ 173.102 mph over 6 laps
35. Michael Waltrip @ 172.140 mph over 18 laps
36. Travis Kvapil @ 171.068 mph over 18 laps
37. Bill Elliott @ 167.722 mph over 27 laps
38. Casey Mears @ 165.692 mph over 17 laps