CUP: Martin Paces Happy Hour At Talladega

Sprint Cup

CUP: Martin Paces Happy Hour At Talladega

Mark Martin ran 197.814 mph at Talladega...

Tom Jensen | Posted October 29, 2010 Talladega, AL

Mark Martin was quickest in the happy hour practice session for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Friday’s final Happy Hour practice round at Talladega Superspeedway was a thinly attended session, as nine of the 46 drivers entered in Sunday’s Amp Energy Drink 500 opted to sit out of the hour-long round.

And no one approached the 200-mile-per-hour barrier that Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch shattered in the first session earlier in the day.

There were some big names absent during Happy Hour:

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon;

Richard Childress Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick;

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya;

Martin Truex Jr. of Michael Waltrip Racing;

Elliott Sadler of Richard Petty Motorsports; and

Brad Keselowski of Penske Racing.

Fastest in the one-hour session was the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy of Mark Martin, which had a best lap of 197.814 miles per hour around the mammoth 2.66-mile Alabama oval.

Kurt Busch’s No. 2 Penske Dodge was second at 197.794 mph, followed by Jeff Burton, who recorded an identical speed, but is listed behind Busch on the basis of points. Completing the top five were Hamlin, 197.647 mph, and David Reutimann in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.

The second five was led by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in sixth, then Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, David Ragan and Robby Gordon.

Qualifying will be Saturday at 12:15 p.m. SPEED will provide live television coverage.

The reason drivers sat out is to avoid the risk of getting snared in a high-speed crash and because with this being an impound race, the cars will race with essentially the same setup they qualify with.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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