Numbers Game: STP 400

Numbers Game: STP 400
by Tom Bowles

0
Times Matt Kenseth was passed for the lead on Sunday at Kansas. Kenseth went on to lead 163 of 267 laps, only losing first place through pit strategy.

1
On-track pass for the lead under green at Kansas. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. passed teammate Carl Edwards for the top spot on Lap 190 of 267; both drivers would eventually pit under green, getting caught off sequence when a caution came out for debris late in the race.

1
Lap led by last year’s title runner-up Clint Bowyer this season through eight races. He led a total of 388 in 2012.

2
Times this season Kasey Kahne has finished second to Kenseth on an intermediate. He was runner-up to the No. 20 car at Las Vegas.

3
Top-10 finishes for Jamie McMurray this season, equaling his total from 36 races last year driving Sprint Cup for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

3
Number of races Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has led on the Sprint Cup circuit out of the last 17. He paced the field for one lap Sunday at Kansas before poor pit strategy had him fading to 16th.

5
Drivers 10th to 19th in points (within a full race’s worth of cracking the top-10) who have never made a Chase appearance. They are: Paul Menard (tenth), Jamie McMurray (11th), Aric Almirola (13th), Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (18th), and Marcos Ambrose (19th).

8
Cautions Sunday at Kansas, down significantly from 14 in the Fall but still the second-most to occur at the track during a Cup race in six years.

11
Races since Jeff Gordon has posted back-to-back top-10 finishes. He has yet to do so in 2013.

15.871
Difference, in miles per hour between Matt Kenseth’s pole-winning run of 2013 and AJ Allmendinger’s from a year ago at Kansas. The track was repaved in the summer of 2012, resulting in average speeds well over 190 MPH (Kenseth’s track record, set Friday is 191.864).

19.1
Average finish for Jeff Gordon through the season’s first eight races. If that holds, it would be the worst of his career, surpassing the 17.8 he registered in 2005 (the last year he missed the Chase).

21.5
Average finish for Tony Stewart through the season’s first eight races. Smoke’s worst career average, to this point in his NASCAR Cup career is 14.9 in 2008.

22.4
Average finish for Kyle Busch at Kansas, the second-lowest for any Cup track in his career. Only his average for Homestead (23.1) is worse.

207
Laps led by Roush Fenway’s three drivers (Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.) so far through eight races in 2013.

482
Laps led by Matt Kenseth through eight races of 2013.

480
Laps led by Matt Kenseth through all of 2012, a year that included three victories and a Chase appearance.

$102,135
Amount of money Mark Martin won for finishing ninth at Kansas.

$117,958
Amount of money Kyle Busch won for finishing 38th at Kansas.

$4,782,812
The purse for Sunday’s Kansas event, the third-lowest for any Cup race held there since 2005.