By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday – though this time it’s on a Friday! This weekend NASCAR travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bristol is a 0.533-mile oval short track that opened in 1961. That same year, Jack Smith won the first ever NASCAR race there, and it has been a staple on the schedule ever since.
Tomorrow’s race will be 500 laps long (for a total of 266.50 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 125 – 250 – 500. Pit road speed is 30 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 35 mph.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 7,327 laps, for 9,921.14 miles so far this season. No driver has completed 100% of them, but Daniel Hemric is the closest, having driven 99.45% of them.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol:
Chase Elliott | 11.31 over 16 races |
John Hunter Nemechek | 13.00 over 3 races |
Kyle Larson | 13.37 over 19 races (1 win) |
Christopher Bell | 13.89 over 9 races (1 win) |
Denny Hamlin | 14.08 over 37 races (4 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol:
Zane Smith | 36.00 over 1 race |
Noah Gragson | 31.33 over 3 races |
Corey LaJoie | 27.20 over 15 races |
Michael McDowell | 25.43 over 28 races |
Ross Chastain | 24.91 over 11 races |
Bristol is a Short Track
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.09 over 182 races (12 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.45 over 95 races (4 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 12.12 over 51 races (5 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.73 over 99 races (2 wins) |
William Byron | 13.10 over 73 races (3 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Daniel Hemric | 24.36 over 22 races |
Noah Gragson | 24.25 over 20 races |
John Hunter Nemechek | 24.09 over 20 races |
Harrison Burton | 23.57 over 31 races |
Ryan Preece | 22.88 over 55 races |
Darrell Waltrip is the winningest driver at Bristol, having scored 12 wins over the course of his career. Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and current driver Kyle Busch all are tied for 2nd, with 9 wins each.
Notable drivers who have not won at Bristol:
Martin Truex Jr. | (has won at 16 other tracks) |
Chase Elliott | (has won at 15 other tracks) |
William Byron | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Ryan Blaney | (has won at 9 other tracks) |
Alex Bowman | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
No driver has scored their first Cup Series win at Bristol.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Bristol as their BEST or WORST track.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2023
Noah Gragson | +428 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Chase Elliott | +321 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Alex Bowman | +187 pts |
Ty Gibbs | +186 pts |
Todd Gilliland | +141 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023
William Byron | -223 pts |
Martin Truex Jr. | -179 pts |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -148 pts |
Kyle Busch | -138 pts |
Denny Hamlin | -117 pts |
While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2023, how does this year stack up against their entire career? This statistic does not include rookies, as this is their first full year in the Cup Series.
Drivers Having their BEST Career Year
Tyler Reddick | 11.54 |
Ty Gibbs | 15.04 |
Todd Gilliland | 19.79 |
Drivers Having their WORST Career Year
Harrison Burton | 25.82 |
Justin Haley | 23.11 |
Austin Dillon | 22.96 |
Erik Jones | 22.62 |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:
Carson Hocevar | 526 |
Josh Berry | 481 |
Zane Smith | 378 |
Kaz Grala | 169 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 1014 |
Ford | 988 |
Toyota | 985 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 938 |
Joe Gibbs | 928 |
23XI | 839 |
RFK | 815 |
Penske | 798 |
Trackhouse | 776 |
Stewart-Haas | 767 |
RCR | 659 |
Spire | 636 |
Front Row | 587 |
Kaulig | 513 |
Rick Ware | 481 |
Legacy Motor Club | 481 |
JTG-Daugherty | 411 |
Wood Bros | 325 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Kyle Larson | 256 |
Denny Hamlin | 234 |
Ryan Blaney | 212 |
Christopher Bell | 187 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 187 |
William Byron | 175 |
Tyler Reddick | 174 |
Chase Elliott | 170 |
Brad Keselowski | 139 |
Joey Logano | 137 |
Milestone Watch
Brad Keselowski | This will be his 550th Cup Series Start |
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 10th Career Win |
William Byron | Looking for his 50th Career Top 5 |
Alex Bowman | Looking for his 40th Career Top 5 |
Chase Briscoe | Looking for his 30th Career Top 10 |
Martin Truex Jr. | Looking for his 290th Career Top 10 |
Erik Jones | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 133 races |
Erik Jones | 73 races |
Bubba Wallace | 71 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 63 races |
Kyle Busch | 49 races |
Martin Truex Jr. | 44 races |
Michael McDowell | 40 races |
Ross Chastain | 28 races |
Daniel Suarez | 26 races |
William Byron | 20 races |
The race begins Saturday, Sept 21st at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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