Curious Notes From The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season

• Ryan Newman posted the first Daytona 500 victory for a Dodge since Ward Burton won in 2002. That victory was the only other restrictor-plate victory for Dodge.


• Tony Stewart won at Talladega Superspeedway in his 20th attempt.
That leaves only three active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tracks at which Stewart has not visited Victory Lane:

• Auto Club Speedway,
• Darlington Raceway and
• Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Among active drivers, only Jeff Gordon has won at more tracks. Gordon has yet to win at two tracks:

• Homestead-Miami Speedway and
• Texas Motor Speedway.

By contrast Jimmie Johnson has yet to visit Victory Lane at five active tracks:

• Bristol,
• Chicago,
• Homestead-Miami,
• Michigan,
• Infineon.

Dude, get the lead out!! Oh, wait, he did. THREE TIMES!


• Kasey Kahne was the only driver with three top-10 finishes in the first three races this season. In 2007, Kahne did not get his third top 10 until race No. 24, at Bristol.


• Jeff Gordon won the pole at Atlanta, making this his 16th consecutive year with a pole.

He is third on the all-time list for consecutive years with a pole behind David Pearson (20) and Richard Petty (17).


• Jeff Gordon finished 43rd after his accident at Texas, just the second time in his career that he finished 43rd. The other also came at Texas (March 1999).


• Greg Biffle won the pole on the newly-repaved Darlington Raceway, breaking Ward Burton’s 1996 track qualifying record.

Burton’s was the longest-standing qualifying record at an active, nonrestrictor-plate track.


• Denny Hamlin led 381 laps, setting the record for the number of laps led in a 400-lap race at Richmond.

Denny eclipsed the mark of 369 set by Bobby Allison in September 1979.

The record for laps led all-time at Richmond is 488 of 500 on the half-mile configuration by David Pearson in September 1970.


• Kyle Busch led 786 laps in the first 14 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season. He had also led the exact same number through the first 15 races (the same weekend) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The man is a freak of skills! Skills we all wish we could freak at!


• Kyle Busch led 415 laps at Bristol, the 13th time a driver has led 400 laps or more at the Tennessee short track.

The standard was set by Cale Yarborough, who led all 500 laps in March 1973.

Busch became the third driver to lead over 400 laps and not win the race, joining
Richard Petty (442 laps in July 1964) and
Rusty Wallace (409 laps in August 1993).


• 42 cars completed the Pepsi 500 – setting the track record for cars running at the finish for Auto Club Speedway.


• The 43 cars running at the finish in the second Richmond race is the first time that all the cars have been running at the finish of a Richmond race, breaking the record of 39 which occurred four times.

It was just the second time since the field was mandated to 43 cars that all starters finished a race. The other was at New Hampshire in September 2007.


• The 40 cars running at the finish at Dover set the record for cars finishing a race there.


• The 42 cars running at the finish at Kansas set the record for cars finishing a race there.


• Chad McCumbee started his first Lowe’s Motor Speedway race, becoming the 500th different driver to compete at LMS.


• Mark Martin has started second six times in the 2008 season – all as a result of timed qualifying.

The modern era record for second-place starts is 10 by Jeff Gordon in 1996.

Richard Petty (1964) and David Pearson (1968) each had 17 second-place starts – the all-time record – but both came in seasons with more than 48 races. (Wow, a 48 race season!!! Gotta wonder how many networks would cover that in this era!?)

-Oh crap... I'm out of curious facts from the 2008 season... now what?????

source: nascar press release

Curious Records from the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season

Current Streaks
Kevin Harvick extended his current streak of running at the finish to 80 races.

That is the all-time record for consecutive races without a DNF.

Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, is second on the list, currently on a 73-race streak of running at the finish.

Note: Herman Beam completed 84 consecutive races that he competed in (1961-63), but he did not race in all of the scheduled events during his personal streak. His longest consecutive-race streak was 35 races.


International Flare Grows
Five foreign-born drivers participated at Infineon Raceway:

• Marcos Ambrose (Australia)
• Patrick Carpentier (Canada)
• Ron Fellows (Canada)
• Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
• Max Papis (Italy).

This was the largest contingent of foreign-born drivers in a race in NASCAR Sprint Cup history.

This eclipsed the previous mark of three which was set eight times – most recently at Infineon in 2007.


Sounding More Like An Olympic Venue!
At Watkins Glen, three nations were represented among the top five for the first time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history.

1. Kyle Busch (United States)
2. Tony Stewart (United States)
3. Marcos Ambrose (Australia)
4. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
5. Martin Truex Jr. (United States)

Lap Leaders in a Race
The 28 different drivers that led at Talladega-2 set the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series record for different lap leaders in a race.

It eclipsed the mark of 26 set at Talladega in July 1986 and tied in April 2001, also at Talladega.

Manufacturer Notes From the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Terse Review)

Manufacturer Championship
Chevrolet won the Manufacturers’ Championship with 219 points – its sixth straight title and 32nd overall.
Ford had 215,
Toyota 207 and
Dodge 151.


Victories
Chevrolet and Ford both had 11 victories in 2008.
Toyota had 10 victories while Dodge had four wins.


Top Four
All four manufacturers have been in the top four finishers four times this season:

• Texas,
• Charlotte,
• Michigan and
• Indianapolis.

source: nascar press release

A Quick Look At Penalties from the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season

When I said quick, I meant it!!

Penalties

There have been 619 on-track penalties issued in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season.


Penalty Recap:

• Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 310
• Too Fast Entering Pit Road 63
• Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 87
• "Others" 159

Owner Hilights From The NASCAR Sprint Series 2008 Season

Here are some selected tidbits on team owner statistics from the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season

• Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500, his first career restrictor-plate victory.

Teammate Kurt Busch finished second, giving car owner Roger Penske his first restrictor-plate victory and first 1-2 finish in 25 years of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.


• Richard Childress Racing followed that up when RCR captured the top three finishing positions in the first Bristol race of the season: Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, respectively.

It was the first 1-2-3 finish for a car owner since Roush Fenway racing captured the top four spots at Homestead in November 2005: Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, respectively.


• Joe Nemechek won the pole at Talladega, giving car owner Barney Visser his first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup pole. It came in Visser’s 49th as a car owner.


• Hendrick Motorsports began competing in NASCAR Sprint Cup in 1984 and won its first race in 1986. Since then, HMS has posted at least one victory in each of its 22 seasons since and has gone past the seventh race of a season before posting its first win eight times – but only four times since 1994 (including this season). The deepest that HMS has gone into a season before scoring a win was 1992 when the first victory did not come until race No. 23.


• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Michigan and became the 14th different driver to win for Hendrick Motorsports.

Every full-time driver for Hendrick Motorsports since 2000 has posted at least one victory while with the organization.

If statistics hold true for next year, then we can fully expect to see a win out of Mark Martin in 2009 then!


• Marcos Ambrose posted a third-place finish driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford at Watkins Glen.

That was the first top-five finish for the Wood Brothers since Ricky Rudd’s fourth at Bristol in August 2005.


• Carl Edwards posted only the second NASCAR Sprint Cup-NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend sweep at Michigan when he won both races there in August. Both came with Jack Roush as the car owner.

Mark Martin posted the first in 1993.


• Roush Fenway Racing swept the top three finishing positions at Dover-2: Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards.

It was the second 1-2-3 sweep by a car owner in 2008.



source: nascar press release

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Rookie and Lap Notes from 2008

Looking back at the 2008 season of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I'm glad to see that Regan Smith took the Rookie award for the year. Following this little segment of numbers is a quickie observation on lap leaders.

Rookie Performance
• Regan Smith won the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year Award.

• Five different drivers were the highest-finishing rookie in 2008:

• Regan Smith (12)
• Sam Hornish Jr. (11)
• Patrick Carpentier (seven)
• Michael McDowell (five)
• Dario Franchitti (one)

As far as laps led in the 2008 season:

Laps Led
• Jimmie Johnson led 1,959 laps this season, more than any other driver.

• 50 drivers led at least one lap this season. No one has led in every race.

• 11 drivers led the most laps in a race this season:

• Jimmie Johnson (10)
• Kyle Busch (seven)
• Carl Edwards (five)
• Tony Stewart (four)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (three)
• Matt Kenseth (two)
• Denny Hamlin (one)
• Greg Biffle (one)
• Kasey Kahne (one)
• Mark Martin (one)
• David Reutimann (one)

source: nascar press release

NASCAR SprintCup Race Numbers from 2008

Races and drivers... some stats for the curious about the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2008 season.

The Races
• 71 drivers qualified for/participated in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season.

• There were 12 different race winners this season:

• Carl Edwards (nine)
• Kyle Busch (eight)
• Jimmie Johnson (six)
• Greg Biffle (two)
• Jeff Burton (two)
• Ryan Newman (one)
• Clint Bowyer (one)
• Kasey Kahne (one)
• Denny Hamlin (one)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one)
• Kurt Busch (one)
• Tony Stewart (one)

• 37 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Carl Edwards with 27.

• Eight drivers had a best finish of second this season:

• David Gilliland
• Jeff Gordon
• Kevin Harvick
• Matt Kenseth
• Paul Menard
• Juan Pablo
• Montoya
• Brian Vickers
• Michael Waltrip

• There were nine green-white-checkered finishes this season:

• Bristol
• Texas
• Richmond
• Michigan
• Infineon
• Daytona-2
• Talladega-2
• Martinsville-2
• Phoenix-2

• The race was won from a top-10 start 28 times this season.

• The deepest in the field that a race winner started in 2008 was 34th, by Tony Stewart at Talladega-2.

• Nine races were won from the pole and the average start of the race winner in 2008 is 8.00.

• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:

• First 9
• 2nd-5th 8
• 6th-10th 3
• 11th-30th 11
• 31st or beyond 5

• The lap leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):

• Led First Lap 26
• Led at All 35
• Led Most Laps 12
• Won Race 9

• The race winner’s starting positions:

• Pole 9
• 2nd-5th 12
• 6th-10th 8
• 11th-30th 5
• 31st or beyond 2

• The lap leader performance of the race winner:

• Led First Lap 7
• Led Most Laps 17
• Led Mid-Race Lap 9
• Led With 10 to Go 24
• Led With One to Go 35

Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.

source: nascar press release

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season

Jimmie Johnson won the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship – his third consecutive, history tying title. He joined Cale Yarborough (1976-78) as the only drivers to win three consecutive series championships.

In 2008, Jimmie Johnson had seven wins, 15 top fives and 22 top 10s, and finished the 2008 season 69 points ahead of Carl Edwards.

Three of his victories and eight of his top-10s came during the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers won all 10 Chase races:

• Jimmie Johnson (three),
• Carl Edwards (three),
• Greg Biffle (two),
• Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton (one each).

Chase Notes: After Race 10
• All 12 Chase drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in a Chase race.
Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards did so in eight.

• All 12 Chase drivers have led laps in at least one of the first nine Chase races.
Jimmie Johnson led in nine.

• Chase drivers led 2,642 of the 3,234 laps (81.7%).

• Greg Biffle became the first driver to win the first two Chase races.

• Jimmie Johnson has won 14 of the 50 Chase races run since the inception of this playoff system.

2008 Season Highlights
• Ryan Newman won the season-opener Daytona 500, his first career restrictor-plate victory.

• Carl Edwards won back-to-back at California and Las Vegas.

• Kyle Busch won at Atlanta, giving Toyota its first victory in the Cup Series.
This was the 40th start for Toyota in Cup and was the first by a foreign-based manufacturer since Jaguar won with Al Keller at Linden (N.J.) Airport in 1954.

• Jeff Burton won at Bristol. He had teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer on his tail, giving car owner Richard Childress his first-ever 1-2-3 sweep.

• Carl Edwards won at Texas. Carl joins Jeff Burton as the only drivers with multiple victories at Texas.

• Kyle Busch won at Darlington and became the youngest race winner there.

• Kasey Kahne followed up his All-Star race win with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Doing this made Kasey the sixth driver to win both races in the same season.

• Kyle Busch wins at Dover. This makes him the first driver to have four wins at Dover.

• Kasey Kahne won the Pocono 500.
He became the third multiple-race winner of 2008.

• Junior Nation rejoices. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Michigan, ending a 76-race winless streak.

• Kyle Busch won at Infineon Raceway.
That was number one for Kyle on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series roadcourse.
This also meant he's won on all four types of tracks in NASCAR’s premier circuit.

• Kurt Busch won at New Hampshire. His first since Michigan in August 2007.

• Kyle Busch got 2008 win #6 in the July race at Daytona.

• At Chicagoland, Kyle Busch won back-to-back races for the first time in his career. That's #7.

• At Indianapolis, Jimmie Johnson won his second race of 2008 – his second win at the Brickyard. The race of a thousand trophy dashes!

• Carl Edwards won at Pocono Raceway after waiting out rain and fuel issues for win #4 of the season.

• Kyle Busch won at Watkins Glen, completing a sweep of the two road-course races this season.

• By winning at Michigan, Carl Edwards completed the second NASCAR Sprint Cup-NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend sweep.

• Carl Edwards posted back-to-back victories for the second time in 2008 when he won at Bristol.

• Jimmie Johnson dominated the field at Auto Club Speedway.

• Jimmie Johnson won at Richmond. Win #4 of the season.

• With his victory at New Hampshire, Greg Biffle became the 11th different race winner in 2008.

• Greg Biffle won at Dover, posting consecutive series wins for the first time in his career.

• Jimmie Johnson won the Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman at Kansas Speedway.

• Tony Stewart won at Talladega. That's win # 33 in his career. His first in 2008 and his first win at Talladega Superspeedway.

• Jeff Burton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. That makes 2008 his first multiple-win season since 2001.

• Jimmie Johnson won at Martinsville. He led 339 laps – the most he has ever led in a race in his career.

• Carl Edwards won at Atlanta. That's #7 for him in 2008.

• Carl Edwards won at Texas.

• Jimmie Johnson had win #7 of 2008 at Phoenix. Much to the chagrin of Carl Edwards.

• Carl Edwards posted his series-leading ninth victory with his win in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Source: NASCAR Press Release

NASCAR Nationwide Series 2008 Season Recap, Pt 2

As promised, the 2nd part of the season statistics recapped for the NASCAR Nationwide Series 2008 Season Recap:




Winners
• There were 12 different race winners in 2008:

• Kyle Busch (10)
• Carl Edwards (seven)
• Tony Stewart (five)
• Denny Hamlin (four)
• Brad Keselowski (two)
• Mark Martin (one)
• Matt Kenseth (one)
• Clint Bowyer (one)
• Scott Wimmer (one)
• Joey Logano (one)
• Ron Fellows (one)
• Marcos Ambrose (one)

• 49 drivers registered at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Clint Bowyer with 29.

• 10 races were extended by green-white-checkered finishes in 2008:

• Las Vegas
• Atlanta
• Phoenix
• Richmond
• Darlington
• Charlotte
• Daytona-2
• Dover-2
• Memphis
• Phoenix-2

• Two races were shortened in 2008: Bristol (171 laps) and Montreal (48 laps).

• With Denny Hamlin's win at Richmond, it was the fifth consecutive victory for Joe Gibbs Racing.

This was the first time in the history of the NASCAR Nationwide Series that an owner posted five straight wins.

• Busch’s win at O’Reilly Raceway Park gave JGR it's 14th win of the season.
That broke a tie with Richard Childress Racing for the most by a car owner (2007).

Unique Statistic
• James Hylton competed in the second Daytona race At 72 years, 313 days old, making him the oldest competitor in any of NASCAR’s three national series.

The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The Coors Light Pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:

• First 7
• 2nd-5th 9
• 6th-10th 5
• 11th-30th 8
• 31st or beyond 6

• The race winner’s starting positions:

• Pole 7
• 2nd-5th 13
• 6th-10th 5
• 11th-30th 7
• 31st or beyond 3

• 60 drivers led at least one lap this season.

• Kyle Busch led 1,933 laps in 2008, more than any other driver.

• Drivers who led the most laps (number of races):

• Kyle Busch (14)
• Carl Edwards (five)
• Tony Stewart (four)
• Clint Bowyer (four)
• Denny Hamlin (three)
• Mark Martin (one)
• Scott Pruett (one)
• Brad Keselowski (one)
• Marcus Ambrose (one)
• Jeff Burton (one)

Nationwide Series standings
• Two drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points all season: Carl Edwards and David Ragan.


Rookie Performance
• Three rookie contenders won poles this season: Landon Cassill (Memphis), Bryan Clauson (Daytona-2) and Dario Franchitti (Watkins Glen).


Owner Highlights
• Joe Gibbs Racing set the mark for the most owner wins in an NASCAR Nationwide Series season with 19, breaking the record set by Richard Childress Racing.

• Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 40 Dodge posted back-to-back poles at Montreal and Watkins Glen – with different drivers at the wheel – Scott Pruett (Montreal) and Dario Franchitti (Watkins Glen).

Car Owner’s Championship
• Joe Gibbs Racing won the car owner’s championship with the No. 20 Toyota finishing the season 12 points ahead of the No. 2 of Richard Childress Racing.

• The 20 car posted nine victories with four different drivers: Tony Stewart (five), Denny Hamlin (two), Kyle Busch (one) and Joey Logano (one).

• This is the third time in series history that there has been a split championship. All three have occurred since 2003, all involved multiple drivers for the winning car owner and all have involved Richard Childress Racing.


Penalties
• There were 512 on-track penalties issued this season.

• Penalty Recap:

• Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 205
• Too Fast Entering Pit Road 63
• Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 57
• Others 187

Manufacturer Notes
• Toyota won the manufacturers’ championship – its first in the series, with 253 points. Chevrolet was second with 201. Ford had 199 points while Dodge had 117.
• Toyota had 20 victories in 2008; Ford nine and Chevrolet six.
• Toyota swept the first three finishing positions at New Hampshire – the best performance by a manufacturer this season.

And there ya have it for the 2008 season!

source: nascar press release

Nationwide Series - A Look Back at 2008

Clint Bowyer won the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, his first series title.

He finished the season 21 points ahead of Carl Edwards, the fourth closest championship margin in series history.

Bowyer finished the 2008 season with one victory, 14 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s. He had no DNFs.

There were 12 different race winners in 2008, led by Kyle Busch who tied a series record with 10 wins this season.

2008 Season Wins & Highlights
• Tony Stewart won the season-opener at Daytona then repeated in the second race (Auto Club Speedway). It was just the third time in NASCAR Nationwide Series history a driver had won the first two races of the season (Dale Earnhardt in 1986 and Chad Little in 1995).
• Mark Martin won the third race of the season at Las Vegas.
• Matt Kenseth won at Atlanta.
• Clint Bowyer won at Bristol.
• Kyle Busch posted his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of 2008 at Texas.
This win makes this the fourth consecutive season Kyle Busch has won in all three series.
Only two other drivers have accomplished the feat and both did so just once – Kevin Harvick in 2003 and Terry Labonte in 1995.
• Kyle Busch became the second repeat winner with his victory at Phoenix.
• Kyle Busch posted his third consecutive victory of 2008 with his win at Mexico City.
• Tony Stewart won his second restrictor-plate race with his victory at Talladega.
• Tony Stewart won his fourth race of the season and the sixth consecutive win for Joe Gibbs Racing with his win at Darlington.
• Kyle Busch became the second four-time winner of the season with his victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
• Denny Hamlin won at Dover.
• Brad Keselowski became the first driver to post his career-first victory in 2008 with his win at Nashville.
• Joey Logano won at Kentucky and became the second first-time winner. He also became the youngest winner in series history with this win, being at the ripe old age of 18 years, 21 days.
• Carl Edwards edged Clint Bowyer to win at Milwaukee, posting his first victory since Nashville in June 2007.
• Tony Stewart won at New Hampshire.
• Denny Hamlin won the July Daytona race. This gave the JGR No 20 car its ninth victory this season.
• Kyle Busch won at Chicagoland.
• Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at Gateway. His second win in 2008.
• Kyle Busch won at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, leading 197 of the 200 laps. His sixth victory of the season.
• Ron Fellows won the rain-shortened Montreal race.
• Marcos Ambrose posted his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory by winning at Watkins Glen.
• Carl Edwards won at Michigan.
• Brad Keselowski posted his second career victory at Bristol.
• Kyle Busch posted his seventh victory at the Auto Club Speedway.
• Carl Edwards won his fourth of the season at Richmond.
• Kyle Busch got win #8 at Dover.
• Denny Hamlin won the Kansas Lottery 300.
• Kyle Busch won the Dollar General 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Number 9.
• Carl Edwards won his fifth race of the season at Memphis.
• Kyle Busch ties the all-time win record at Texas Motor Speedway. Sam Ard won 10 races in 1983.
• Carl Edwards won at Phoenix, making that win # 6 of the season.
• Carl Edwards won the final race of the year, #7 of the season.

Qualifying
• 162 drivers attempted to qualify for at least one race this season.

• There were 18 different pole winners in 2008:

• Kyle Busch (four)
• Carl Edwards (four)
• Joey Logano (three)
• Tony Stewart (two)
• Brian Vickers (two)
• Jamie McMurray (two)
• Colin Braun (two)
• Kasey Kahne (one)
• Brad Keselowski (one)
• Landon Cassill (one)
• Bryan Clauson (one)
• David Reutimann (one)
• Scott Pruett (one)
• Dario Franchitti (one)
• Cale Gale (one)
• Kevin Harvick (one)
• James Buescher (one)
• Denny Hamlin (one)

• There were eight first-time pole winners this season:

• Colin Braun (Mexico City)
• Joey Logano (Nashville-2)
• Brad Keselowski (Milwaukee)
• Landon Cassill (New Hampshire)
• Bryan Clauson (Daytona-2)
• Dario Franchitti (Watkins Glen)
• Cale Gale (Bristol-2)
• James Buescher (Memphis)

• 150 drivers qualified for at least one NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season.

(The 2008 season numbers will be continued in the next article on 11/29/08)

Source: NASCAR Press Release