By Brian Polking
November 21, 2009 11:30pm CST

If Mark Martin is going to have any chance at catching Jimmie Johnson, he basically has to win the Ford 400. He appears he just might have a slim chance, after he paced the opening session Saturday for Sunday's season finale. However, Carl Edwards showed last year that even winning might not be enough to win the Cup. Denny Hamlin put down the second best lap of the session, and Johnson had the third fastest. Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five during the opening session.

On the long runs, Kevin Harvick topped the charts. Juan Pablo Montoya continued his trend of excelling on long runs with the second best average speed. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. were third and fourth on long runs, and Martin rounded out the top five. Martin was only driver in the top five on both short and long runs.

In Happy Hour, RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Harvick dominated. Burton, who finished second last week, topped the charts on short and long runs. Harvick ranked second in both categories. Martin, Truex Jr. and Newman put down the third through fifth best laps of the session. Based on average speed, Hamlin, Montoya and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Overall, Harvick posted the top speed between the two sessions. Montoya was second as he looks to end his winless season. Truex Jr. had the third best average speed on the afternoon as he looks to end his career at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with a win. Marcos Ambrose and Stewart rounded out the top five.

Two big names that struggled on longer runs were Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards. Edwards is the defending race winner, but he is also winless this season and managed only the 31st best average speed between the two sessions. Kahne finished outside the top 25 as well.

Happy Hour Speeds
Sorted by Average Speed (rank indicates Top Speed position)

Rank	Car	Driver	Team	Top Speed	Best Time	Avg. Speed	Laps
1	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevy	165.736	32.582	161.439	44
2	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevy	165.375	32.653	161.293	42
10	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	164.214	32.884	161.142	50
26	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevy	163.167	33.095	161.115	26
13	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy	164.169	32.893	161.043	38
20	18	Kyle Busch	M&M\'s Toyota	163.671	32.993	161.03	36
31	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	162.67	33.196	160.954	32
4	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy	165.022	32.723	160.923	48
12	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota	164.184	32.89	160.812	33
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe\'s Chevy	164.534	32.82	160.792	39
3	5	Mark Martin	Kellogg\'s/CARQUEST Chevy	165.067	32.714	160.692	47
15	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevy	164.029	32.921	160.691	38
6	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	164.549	32.817	160.676	51
18	33	Clint Bowyer	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy	163.895	32.948	160.658	31
11	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	164.204	32.886	160.558	46
17	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	163.954	32.936	160.546	33
19	44	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford Drive One Ford	163.686	32.99	160.534	32
29	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	162.778	33.174	160.525	36
25	0	David Reutimann	Aaron\'s Dream Machine Toyota	163.246	33.079	160.51	33
21	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy	163.612	33.005	160.425	41
28	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	163.009	33.127	160.391	51
8	7	Casey Mears	Jack Daniel\'s Chevy	164.369	32.853	160.28	38
14	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	164.089	32.909	160.28	40
9	12	Brad Keselowski	No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge	164.339	32.859	160.152	38
27	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	163.083	33.112	160.132	36
5	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. ARMY All-American Bowl Chevy	164.604	32.806	160.103	50
33	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	162.133	33.306	160.053	50
22	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	163.503	33.027	160.048	49
24	2	David Gilliland	Farm Bureau Toyota	163.275	33.073	159.735	46
37	96	Erik Darnell	Hall of Fame Racing Ford	161.31	33.476	159.642	35
23	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft Ford	163.32	33.064	159.631	43
36	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	161.478	33.441	159.58	23
16	17	Matt Kenseth	DeWalt Ford	163.984	32.93	159.576	39
35	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevy	161.507	33.435	159.54	26
32	98	Paul Menard	Johns Manville/Menards Ford	162.611	33.208	159.441	42
38	43	Reed Sorenson	Siemens Dodge	161.295	33.479	159.221	30
30	71	Bobby Labonte	TaxSlayer.com Chevy	162.768	33.176	159.185	39
40	37	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver\'s Chevy	160.456	33.654	159.076	26
41	7	Matt Crafton	Menards/MAPEI Toyota	160.028	33.744	158.51	34
34	19	Elliott Sadler	Best Buy Dodge	161.507	33.435	158.501	28
39	34	John Andretti	Taco Bell Chevy	160.81	33.58	157.96	39
43	36	Michael McDowell	Wave Energy Drink Toyota	159.086	33.944	157.9	16
42	8	Terry Labonte	FanCar Toyota	159.811	33.79	157.58	18

Second Practice Speeds
Sorted by Average Speed (rank indicates Top Speed position)

Rank	Car	Driver	Team	Top Speed	Best Time	Avg. Speed	Laps
14	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevy	166.801	32.374	163.194	24
13	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevy	166.893	32.356	162.631	22
22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy	165.837	32.562	162.235	28
10	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy	167.074	32.321	162.198	26
1	5	Mark Martin	Kellogg\'s/Carquest Chevy	168.177	32.109	162.027	30
23	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy	165.705	32.588	161.975	19
16	17	Matt Kenseth	DeWalt Ford	166.703	32.393	161.928	20
24	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcakes Toyota	165.604	32.608	161.926	21
28	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft Ford	163.8	32.967	161.784	10
5	18	Kyle Busch	M&M\'s Toyota	167.811	32.179	161.554	24
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe\'s Chevy	167.863	32.169	161.497	31
12	33	Clint Bowyer	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy	166.909	32.353	161.484	21
9	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	167.079	32.32	161.388	26
11	44	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford Drive One Ford	167.043	32.327	161.353	22
21	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	166.093	32.512	161.337	26
15	0	David Reutimann	Aaron\'s Dream Machine Toyota	166.795	32.375	161.285	32
7	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	167.738	32.193	161.236	31
27	2	David Gilliland	Farm Bureau Toyota	164.544	32.818	161.225	21
6	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevy	167.806	32.18	161.191	33
2	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	167.884	32.165	161.119	32
25	12	Brad Keselowski	Penske Dodge	165.507	32.627	161.096	26
4	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. ARMY All-American Bowl Chevy	167.822	32.177	161.046	28
8	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	167.183	32.3	160.95	30
26	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	165.355	32.657	160.939	25
17	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevy	166.636	32.406	160.691	23
34	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	163.004	33.128	160.66	16
18	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	166.436	32.445	160.656	39
20	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	166.241	32.483	160.65	21
29	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	163.612	33.005	160.607	36
19	7	Casey Mears	Jack Daniel\'s Chevy	166.282	32.475	160.397	29
35	19	Elliott Sadler	Best Buy Dodge	162.98	33.133	160.209	10
38	7	Matt Crafton	Menards/MAPEI Toyota	162.172	33.298	159.969	8
36	43	Reed Sorenson	Siemens Dodge	162.548	33.221	159.334	15
33	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	163.034	33.122	159.145	18
30	98	Paul Menard	Johns Manville/Menards Ford	163.612	33.005	159.132	24
42	36	Michael McDowell	Wave Energy Drink Toyota	161.04	33.532	159.045	20
39	34	John Andretti	Taco Bell Chevy	162.021	33.329	158.878	18
31	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	163.31	33.066	158.722	14
37	71	Bobby Labonte	TaxSlayer.com Chevy	162.421	33.247	158.563	23
40	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevy	161.213	33.496	158.4	8
43	96	Erik Darnell	Hall of Fame Racing Ford	160.81	33.58	158.176	19
41	8	Terry Labonte	FanCar Toyota	161.122	33.515	157.494	15
32	37	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver\'s Chevy	163.157	33.097	152.924	11

Combined Average Speeds

Rank	Car	Driver	Team	Average Speed
1	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevy	162.244
2	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevy	161.873
3	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy	161.561
4	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy	161.509
5	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota	161.369
6	5	Mark Martin	Kellogg\'s/CARQUEST Chevy	161.360
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy	161.330
8	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevy	161.315
9	18	Kyle Busch	M&M\'s Toyota	161.292
10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe\'s Chevy	161.145
11	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	161.131
12	33	Clint Bowyer	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy	161.071
13	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	161.032
14	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	160.948
15	44	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford Drive One Ford	160.944
16	0	David Reutimann	Aaron\'s Dream Machine Toyota	160.898
17	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	160.891
18	17	Matt Kenseth	DeWalt Ford	160.752
19	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft Ford	160.708
20	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevy	160.691
21	12	Brad Keselowski	No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge	160.624
22	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	160.591
23	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. ARMY All-American Bowl Chevy	160.575
24	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	160.536
25	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	160.499
26	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	160.499
27	2	David Gilliland	Farm Bureau Toyota	160.480
28	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	160.465
29	7	Casey Mears	Jack Daniel\'s Chevy	160.339
30	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	160.120
31	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	159.838
32	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	159.599
33	19	Elliott Sadler	Best Buy Dodge	159.355
34	98	Paul Menard	Johns Manville/Menards Ford	159.287
35	43	Reed Sorenson	Siemens Dodge	159.278
36	7	Matt Crafton	Menards/MAPEI Toyota	159.240
37	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevy	158.970
38	96	Erik Darnell	Hall of Fame Racing Ford	158.909
39	71	Bobby Labonte	TaxSlayer.com Chevy	158.874
40	36	Michael McDowell	Wave Energy Drink Toyota	158.473
41	34	John Andretti	Taco Bell Chevy	158.419
42	8	Terry Labonte	FanCar Toyota	157.537
43	37	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver\'s Chevy	156.000