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StatChat 2024 - The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis


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

 

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!

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @RacingRefresh

 

Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

 

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