The fastest car in that second practice session? A.J. Allmendinger’s seventh lap, at 178.679 mph (4.9 mph faster).

What a drastic difference. If it’s hard visualizing 5 mph, think about it like this: When you’re watching a race and the leader is struggling — maybe it’s ill handling, maybe it’s old tires, maybe it’s an engine gasping to hold on — and you’ll hear the announcers make reference to the second-place car being a full mile per hour faster.

In no time at all, there’s a new leader. It may only take a handful of laps, even at the short tracks.

If that doesn’t work, try this: Reed Sorenson ran the closest time to Burton’s record, and Sorenson was 32nd fastest. (That alone should tell you something.) Sorenson’s lap time was 28.298 seconds; Allmendinger’s was 27.522, a difference of just over three-quarters of a second.

So let’s say for a second that Allmendinger runs a race at that speed, running only against Sorenson and his speed. In about 36.5 laps — just under 50 miles — Allmendinger would pass Sorenson and put him a lap down.

Granted, racing doesn’t happen in such a vacuum with such a distinct lack of variables. But think about it like this: Only at the shortest tracks, Martinsville and Bristol, do drivers remain on track and go a lap down within the first 100 laps.

Things like that simply don’t happen at tracks a mile and bigger.

Such a drastic increase in speed has the chance to make a treacherous racetrack even more so. On Friday, Kasey Kahne said he expects to see 43 different Darlington stripes.

“I think every car on the track is going to hit [the wall]; it’s just how hard everyone is going to hit it,” Kahne said. “It’s a pretty tough track. It’s fast. It’s really going to be tough to pass. I think the key is mainly how hard you’re going to hit it, that’s a big thing.”

Kahne went on to say that he expects a lot of single-file racing since passing will be such a challenge.

That seems to be a word of caution, but hopefully we won’t be in for 367 laps of follow the leader. But that remains to be seen.

Maybe Monday will bring a positive post; maybe it won’t.

At this point, it’s rather difficult to tell.

(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)