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StatChat 2024 - The Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington


By Adam Carabine


Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday!  This weekend NASCAR travels to Darlington, South Carolina for the “Cook Out Southern 500” at Darlington Raceway.

 

Darlington is a 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval track also known as “The Lady in Black,” and “The Track Too Tough to Tame.”  The track was built in 1950, with Johnny Mantz winning the first race that same year. 

 

Tomorrow’s race will be 367 laps long (for a total of 501.32 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 115 – 230 – 367.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 50 mph. 

 

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 6,969 laps, for 9,285.73 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed 100% of them, but Daniel Hemric is the closest, having driven 94.23% of them. 

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Darlington:

Denny Hamlin

8.25 over 24 races (4 wins)

Brad Keselowski

10.90 over 21 races (2 wins)

Kyle Larson

11.31 over 13 races (1 win)

Erik Jones

12.38 over 13 races (2 wins)

Tyler Reddick

13.40 over 10 races (0 wins)

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Darlington:

Zane Smith

35.00 over 1 race

Daniel Hemric

31.00 over 4 races

JH Nemechek

27.75 over 4 races

Corey LaJoie

26.23 over 13 races

Michael McDowell

25.83 over 18 races

 

For the purposes of this article, we’re classifying Darlington as an Intermediate track.

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Denny Hamlin

12.05 over 329 races (27 wins)

Kyle Larson

12.18 over 167 races (16 wins)

Kyle Busch

12.37 over 345 races (29 wins)

Brad Keselowski

12.45 over 266 races (19 wins)

Chase Elliott

12.49 over 148 races (6 wins)

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Ryan Preece

23.12 over 81 races

Harrison Burton

22.48 over 40 races

Josh Berry

21.71 over 16 races

Zane Smith

21.50 over 12 races

Todd Gilliland

20.74 over 40 races

 

David Pearson is the winningest driver at Darlington, with 10 career wins.  Dale Earnhardt had 9, and Jeff Gordon has 7.  Denny Hamlin is the winningest current driver with 4.

 

Notable drivers who have not won at Darlington:

Chase Elliott

(has won at 15 other tracks)

Ryan Blaney

(has won at 9 other tracks)

Christopher Bell

(has won at 8 other tracks)

Alex Bowman

(has won at 8 other tracks)

Tyler Reddick

(has won at 7 other tracks)

 

No current driver has earned their first Cup Series win at Darlington.

 

Based on average finish, no drivers list Darlington 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

+456 pts (incomplete 2023 season)

Chase Elliott

+334 pts (incomplete 2023 season)

Ty Gibbs

+198 pts

Alex Bowman

+161 pts

Todd Gilliland

+149 pts

 

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023

William Byron

-189 pts

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

-150 pts

Kyle Busch

-145 pts

Martin Truex Jr.

-113 pts

Joey Logano

-110 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

11.20

Ty Gibbs

14.48

Bubba Wallace

15.80

Todd Gilliland

19.76

 

Drivers Having their WORST Career Year

Erik Jones

21.96

Justin Haley

23.16

Austin Dillon

23.20

Harrison Burton

25.88

 

Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:

Carson Hocevar

467

Josh Berry

448

Zane Smith

316

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

909

Toyota

895

Ford

868

 

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

 

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick

848

Joe Gibbs

838

23XI

761

RFK

726

Penske

702

Stewart-Haas

677

Trackhouse

676

RCR

585

Spire

552

Front Row

522

Kaulig

441

Legacy Motor Club

441

Rick Ware

438

JTG-Daugherty

372

Wood Bros

285

 

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

233

Denny Hamlin

220

Ryan Blaney

193

Martin Truex Jr.

175

Christopher Bell

174

Tyler Reddick

160

Chase Elliott

158

William Byron

150

Brad Keselowski

138

Joey Logano

122

 

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott

Looking for his 20th Career Win

Christopher Bell

Looking for his 10th Career Win

Christopher Bell

Looking for his 40th Career Top 5

William Byron

Looking for his 50th Career Top 5

Corey LaJoie

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

130 races

Chase Briscoe

93 races

Erik Jones

70 races

Bubba Wallace

68 races

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

60 races

Kyle Busch

46 races

Martin Truex Jr.

41 races

Michael McDowell

37 races

Chris Buescher

35 races

Ross Chastain

26 races

 

The race begins Sunday, Sept 1st  at 6:00 pm EST (3:00 pm 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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