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Numbers Game: Daytona 500

Numbers Game: Daytona 500

0
Laps led by Carl Edwards in his last 13 Cup races, compared to 5 wrecks he’d been involved in with both January testing and Daytona Speedweeks.

1
The number of start-and-parkers combined in NASCAR’s top three series this weekend, including zero in Sunday’s Daytona 500. TriStar’s No. 10 (Driver: Jeff Green) in the Nationwide Series race Saturday was the only one to spoil an otherwise healthy car count.

2
The number of wrecks Brad Keselowski was involved in before taking the lead in the Daytona 500. He was in the first multi-car wreck, then helped start the Lap 139 one which eliminated Trevor Bayne, Edwards, Austin Dillon and others from contention.

5th
The next record Danica Patrick hopes to topple. That’s the highest finish by a woman, in Cup Series history accomplished by Sara Christian after a 1949 event at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, PA.

9
The number of lead changes over the final 28 laps of the race as compared to 19 in the first 172. If those late-race numbers held serve over the course of 500 miles, Daytona would have had 64 lead changes, the second-best in the race’s 55-year history.

33
The number of restrictor plate races won since Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s last victory in them, the Fall 2004 race at Talladega. During that span, he’s been second four times, with three of those runner-up finishes collected in the season-opening Daytona 500.

55
The number of career starts, just one more than his age (54) Mark Martin has at Daytona without winning either February’s 500-mile Super Bowl or the 400-mile July 4th NASCAR event. It’s the longest drought, for any track he’s had in his Cup career.

1977
The last time a woman led a lap in a NASCAR Cup race before Danica Patrick accomplished the feat on Sunday. Janet Guthrie, in the season-ending race in Ontario led five laps under caution with her No. 68 Kelly Girl-sponsored Chevrolet.

2006
The last time someone captured the Daytona 500 and went on to win the Sprint Cup championship. Who was that masked man? Oh, right; Jimmie Johnson.

$267,637
Purse money collected by the 43rd-place finisher (David Ragan) in the 2012 Daytona 500.

$264,354
Purse money collected by the 43rd-place finisher (Joe Nemechek) in the 2013 Daytona 500. (1.2 percent decline)

$1,525,275
Purse money collected by Jimmie Johnson for winning the 55th Daytona 500.

$1,520,642
Purse money collected by fourth-place point finisher Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2012 over a full season of Nationwide Series competition.

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