Race Weekend Central

Numbers Game 10/01/2012

by Garrett Horton

3
Three of the Chase contenders have yet to post a top-10 finish in the first three races of NASCAR’s playoff – Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth.

4

Danica Patrick has four consecutive finishes of 29th or better. She has yet to finish on the lead lap in any of her seven Sprint Cup races.

9

For you Chase bashers, you will appreciate this –I f we were still under the traditional format, the top-4 drivers would be separated by just nine points. With the points reset after Richmond, Jimmie Johnson is currently the only driver within nine points of championship leader Brad Keselowski.

12

Greg Biffle finished three laps off the pace on Sunday, ending a streak of 12 consecutive lead lap finishes. Biffle’s 26 lead lap finishes this season are the most of any driver.

14

It’s been 14 races since Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a podium finish, which was his win at Michigan in June.

18

With his ninth place finish at Dover, Clint Bowyer has 18 top-10’s this season, matching his career high from 2010.

24

Carl Edwards finished 5th on Sunday, the first time in 24 races he has finished in the top-5. It also matches his best finish of the season; he also finished 5th at Las Vegas and Fontana.

33

How good has Brad Keselowski been the past couple of months? Over the last ten races, your current championship leader has outscored the competition by almost a full race. Clint Bowyer, who has scored the second most in that span, has 33 fewer points than Keselowski.

43

Jimmie Johnson led only 43 laps at Dover this past weekend. While that may seem like a good amount, it was the fewest he has led in a race at the Monster Mile since the spring of 2008, when he led just two circuits. In addition, his seven race streak of leading the most laps here was put to an end by Kyle Busch.

58

Brad Keselowski is now tied for 58th on the all-time wins list with nine, joining Paul Goldsmith, Cotton Owens, Bob Welborn.

296

Jeff Gordon now has 296 top-5 finishes, only four away from becoming just the fourth driver to have 300 or more.

302

Kyle Busch led 302 laps on Sunday, only the second time this year a driver has led over 300 laps in a race (Jeff Gordon led 329 at Martinsville).

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