By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday! This weekend NASCAR travels to Speedway, Indiana for the “Brickyard 400” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Indianapolis is a 2.5-mile-long oval track. Built in 1909, it is now the third-oldest permanent track in the world. NASCAR only started visiting the track in 1994, where Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400. In 2021, NASCAR moved the race to the Grand Prix road course. This year marks the return of the oval configuration.
Tomorrow’s race will be 160 laps long (for a total of 400 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 30 – 95 – 160. Pit road speed is 40 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 45 mph.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 5,657 laps, for 7,238.91 miles so far this season. No driver has completed 100% of them, but Chase Elliott is just one lap short, and Martin Truex Jr. is 5 laps short.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Indianapolis:
Tyler Reddick | 8.00 over 1 race (0 wins) |
Joey Logano | 10.83 over 12 races (0 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 12.00 over 1 race (0 wins) |
Kyle Busch | 12.06 over 16 races (2 wins) |
Brad Keselowski | 12.91 over 11 races (1 win) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Indianapolis:
Daniel Hemric | 34.00 over 1 race |
Alex Bowman | 33.40 over 5 races |
Corey LaJoie | 31.25 over 4 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 29.00 over 8 races |
Ryan Preece | 28.00 over 2 races |
For the purposes of this article, we’re lumping Indianapolis in with the Intermediate tracks.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Denny Hamlin | 11.98 over 327 races (27 wins) |
Kyle Larson | 12.23 over 165 races (15 wins) |
Kyle Busch | 12.34 over 343 races (29 wins) |
Joey Logano | 12.37 over 273 races (16 wins) |
Brad Keselowski | 12.42 over 264 races (19 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Ryan Preece | 23.24 over 79 races |
JH Nemechek | 22.71 over 32 races |
Todd Gilliland | 21.74 over 38 races |
Harrison Burton | 21.65 over 38 races |
Noah Gragson | 21.62 over 27 races |
Jeff Gordon is the winningest driver at Indianapolis, having won 5 times. Jimmie Johnson (who is running this race in the 84 car) has won 4. Kyle Busch is the winningest current driver, with 2.
Notable drivers who have not won at Indianapolis:
Denny Hamlin | (has won at 19 other tracks) |
Joey Logano | (has won at 19 other tracks) |
Kyle Larson | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
Martin Truex Jr. | (has won at 16 other tracks) |
Chase Elliott | (has won at 15 other tracks) |
No current driver has earned their first Cup Series win at Indianapolis.
Based on average finish, no drivers list Indianapolis as their BEST track, but both Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have it as their WORST.
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 | +459 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Chase Elliott | +378 pts (incomplete 2023 season) |
Alex Bowman | +247 pts |
Ty Gibbs | +201 pts |
Todd Gilliland | +149 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023
Kyle Busch | -206 pts |
William Byron | -153 pts |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -144 pts |
Austin Dillon | -142 pts |
Michael McDowell | -101 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
Chase Elliott | 10.52 |
Tyler Reddick | 11.71 |
Alex Bowman | 13.29 |
Ty Gibbs | 14.71 |
Chase Briscoe | 17.24 |
Todd Gilliland | 19.62 |
Drivers Having their WORST Career Year
Harrison Burton | 26.86 |
Austin Dillon | 25.10 |
Justin Haley | 21.90 |
Erik Jones | 21.84 |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:
Josh Berry | 386 |
Carson Hocevar | 358 |
Zane Smith | 228 |
Kaz Grala | 166 |
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 | 759 |
Toyota | 751 |
Ford | 736 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Hendrick | 722 |
Joe Gibbs | 702 |
RFK | 628 |
23XI | 621 |
Penske | 604 |
Stewart-Haas | 577 |
Trackhouse | 561 |
RCR | 453 |
Spire | 442 |
Front Row | 437 |
Kaulig | 381 |
Legacy Motor Club | 381 |
Rick Ware | 359 |
JTG-Daugherty | 317 |
Wood Bros | 216 |
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 | 216 |
Denny Hamlin | 185 |
Martin Truex Jr. | 157 |
Christopher Bell | 153 |
Ryan Blaney | 152 |
Tyler Reddick | 143 |
Chase Elliott | 134 |
William Byron | 123 |
Brad Keselowski | 117 |
Ty Gibbs | 98 |
Milestone Watch
Kyle Busch | This will be his 700th Cup Series start |
Denny Hamlin | Looking for his 230th Career Top 5 |
Bubba Wallace | Looking for his 20th Career Top 5 |
Ty Gibbs | Looking for his 10th Career Top 5 |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 10th Career Win |
Brad Keselowski | Looking for his 260th Career Top 10 |
Corey LaJoie | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Denny Hamlin | Looking for his 350th Career Top 10 |
Martin Truex Jr. | Looking for his 290th Career Top 10 |
Bubba Wallace | Looking for his 40th Career Top 10 |
Todd Gilliland | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Erik Jones | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10
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Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 126 races |
Chase Briscoe | 89 races |
Austin Dillon | 67 races |
Erik Jones | 66 races |
Bubba Wallace | 64 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 56 races |
Kyle Busch | 42 races |
Martin Truex Jr. | 37 races |
Michael McDowell | 33 races |
Chris Buescher | 31 races |
The race begins Sunday, July 21st at 2:30 pm EST (11:30 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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