Talladega Final Practices: As Usual, Nothing Really Telling From Plate Practices

I rarely pay attention to practices from the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega because they are misleading and very rarely help in any equation to determine who will do well in the actual race like they do at all the other tracks. The wide variation in practice speeds because of the draft is why the info is useless.

The main data I rely on is past history and how well each driver did in this seasons plate races. I like to look deeper into each race and see who ran well even if the results don't show it. Wrecks play a huge factor in so many of these races, so dismissing a driver because he finished 25th or worse in the other plate races doesn't always tell the whole story.  

The darlings of the plate race season appear to be everyone with Childress engines that includes Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. They are on a run of winning all three plate races this year and are in a zone like no other in the series. This is the same type of plate dominance over a short period of time like we saw from DEI, and then later Hendrick, over the last decade.

Saturday's qualifying will also be worthless information other than getting fantasy bonus points in league play. I'll have a final write-up on the race late Saturday afternoon.
 

Happy Hour for the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is over after 60 scheduled minutes, the top-5, slowest and notes:
#5-Martin 197.814
#31-Burton 197.794
#2-Busch 197.794
#11-Hamlin 197.647
#00-Reutimann 197.631
slowest: #38-Kvapil 179.699 & #66-Sauter 177.248. 37 drivers have been on track.
no speed: #56-Truex, Jr., #48-Johnson, #42-Montoya, #33-Bowyer, #29-Harvick, #24-Gordon, #19-Sadler, #12-Keselowski, #1-McMurray
notes: several drivers pleased with their runs during the first practice, skipped Happy Hour.


Friday's First practice for the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is over, after 45 schedule minutes, the top-5, slowest and notes:
#11-Hamlin 201.664
#18-Busch 201.109
#1-McMurray 197.684
#24-Gordon 197.663
#48-Johnson 196.338mph
slowest: #37-Kvapil 180.132 & #64-Cassill 179.743
no speed: #97-Fuller, #66-Sauter
notes: Drivers are practicing in the draft because this weekend's race an impound race and cars can't be worked on after qualifying Saturday morning.


From Jayski.com

Friday's Practice Speeds from Talladega