Numbers Game: 2012 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

2.0

Matt Kenseth’s average finish in his last three Daytona races (third Saturday (July 7), won the 2012 Daytona 500 and second in last year’s Coke Zero 400).

2nd

Jeff Burton posted his best finish of the season at Daytona, coming home in the runner-up spot. It’s just his second top five of the year, with his other one coming here in the season-opening Daytona 500 when he finished fifth.

7

Joey Logano now has seven top-10 finishes in 2012, more than his total from last year of six.

8.3

The average starting position of Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle through 18 races, the highest amongst drivers who have started every race. Mark Martin has an average starting spot of 7.8, including a series-high three poles, but has only started 12 races.

11th

David Reutimann’s finishing position Saturday night, easily eclipsing his previous season best of 21st at Pocono and Bristol.

12

There were just 12 lead changes in Saturday’s Coke Zero 400, the fewest since the rain-shortened Daytona 500 in 2009, when there were only nine lead changes.

13

Travis Kvapil finished 16th at Daytona, matching his season best from Talladega in May. This comes one week after posting another solid run at Kentucky, where he finished 17th in the BK Racing entry.

16th

Halfway through the season, there is a three way tie for most top 10s between Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson with 13 apiece.

21st

Greg Biffle has back to back finishes of 21st after finishing outside the top 20 just once in the first 16 weeks.

23

There are 23 drivers who have scored more points than Kyle Busch in the last six races, including AJ Allmendinger, who did not compete at Daytona due to his suspension.

30

With Tony Stewart‘s fourth career Cup win at Daytona, it moved him into second place for most overall wins at Daytona with 18, but has yet to win the biggest one of all, the Daytona 500. The man he is behind on Daytona’s win list, Dale Earnhardt, won 30 of his record 34 Daytona races before finally capturing the 500 in 1998.

37.6

Johnson’s average finish in the three restrictor-plate races this season. He hasn’t finished worse than 12th in any other race this year.

42nd

Even though he qualified on outside the front row during Friday’s time trials, Stewart’s time was disallowed due to an open cooling hose and was credited with an official starting position of 42nd. This is the worst starting position for a race winner in NASCAR’s modern era and furthest back someone has started to win since Fonty Flock started 43rd in a field of 49 entries at Raleigh Speedway in 1953.

212

Of Kenseth’s 327 laps led for the season, 212 of them have come on the restrictor-plate races this year.

665

Stewart has led more laps than any other active driver at Daytona, leading the field for 665 circuits in his 28 starts at the 2.5-mile speedway.

5,187

Earnhardt Jr. has completed all 5,187 laps run this season, the only driver to do so.