Stewart Sets Track Record, Fastest in Saturday's First Practice Session

by Jeff Gluck
SBNation.com

From the Statistics-Can-Be-Deceiving Department: Tony Stewart had the fastest single lap in the first of two Sprint Cup Series practices at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, but "Smoke" was only 12th-fastest among the 24 drivers who drove 10 or more consecutive laps.

The 10-lap average is a more reliable stat, and Mark Martin led the way in that category with an average speed of 123.248 mph over his 10-lap run.

Jamie McMurray (123.155) trailed Martin, followed by Ryan Newman, David Ragan and Joey Logano.

Denny Hamlin was next, with Brad Keselowski, Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith and David Reutimann rounding out the top 10.

On the "traditional" practice sheet, the top 10 was: Stewart, Reutimann, Martin, McMurray, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Ragan, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Hamlin.

The final 60-minute practice session is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern time.

Cup teams were given one set of right-side tires to use for both practices today after a tire issue was discovered yesterday.

Saturday 1st practice - Top 5 Speeds
#14-Stewart 124.889
#00-Reutimann 124.678
#5-Martin 124.638
#1-McMurray 124.460
#22-Busch 124.452
slowest: #46-Yeley 120.687 and #87-Nemechek 120.786
no speed listed: #92-Setzer
incidents: #38-Kvapil slapped the wall with the right side of the car.

Happy Hour practice - Top 5 Speeds
#5-Martin 124.018
#83-Vickers 123.523
#11-Hamlin 123.475
#20-Logano 123.245
#14-Stewart 123.237
slowest: #09-Elliott 117.293 and #66-McDowell 117.329
no speed listed: #87-Nemechek
the teams practiced the new tires [D4386], each team had one set to use.


Practice Speeds