By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Pennzoil 400!
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile tri-oval. The track opened in 1971, though NASCAR didn’t start racing there until 1998. Mark Martin won the inaugural NASCAR Cup race at the track.
Tomorrow’s race will be 267 laps long (for a total of 400.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 80 – 165 – 267. Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph. The fuel window is between 62-67 laps.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 874 laps, for 1,447.96 miles so far this season. Only 5 drivers have completed all of them – Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Vegas:
Kyle Larson | 9.41 over 17 races (3 wins) |
Joey Logano | 9.52 over 23 races (4 wins) |
Kyle Busch | 11.30 over 27 races (1 win) |
Denny Hamlin | 12.31 over 26 races (1 win) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.65 over 17 races |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Vegas:
Cody Ware | 29.57 over 7 races |
Shane Van Gisbergen | 29.00 over 1 race |
Michael McDowell | 28.73 over 22 races |
Todd Gilliland | 26.83 over 6 races |
Zane Smith | 26.00 over 2 races |
Las Vegas is an Intermediate Track.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Denny Hamlin | 11.99 over 335 races (27 wins) |
Kyle Larson | 12.21 over 173 races (16 wins) |
Kyle Busch | 12.37 over 351 races (29 wins) |
Joey Logano | 12.49 over 281 races (18 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 12.51 over 154 races (6 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:
Ryan Preece | 22.70 over 87 races |
Ty Dillon | 22.43 over 121 races |
Riley Herbst | 22.25 over 3 races |
Shane Van Gisbergen | 22.10 over 5 races |
Josh Berry | 21.83 over 22 races |
Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano are tied for the title of winningest driver at Las Vegas. They each have 4 wins. Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson all each have 3.
Notable drivers who have not won at Las Vegas:
Chase Elliott | (has won at 15 other tracks) |
Christopher Bell | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Ryan Blaney | (has won at 9 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
No current driver has scored their first ever Cup Series win at Las Vegas.
Based on average finish, no driver lists Vegas 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 2024
Tyler Reddick | +793 pts |
Chris Buescher | +538 pts |
William Byron | +480 pts |
Christopher Bell | +430 pts |
Bubba Wallace | +395 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024
Ty Gibbs | -602 pts |
Brad Keselowski | -515 pts |
Cole Custer | -299 pts |
Josh Berry | -292 pts |
Daniel Suarez | -266 pts |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:
Shane Van Gisbergen | 69 |
Riley Herbst | 61 |
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
Toyota | 155 |
Chevrolet | 144 |
Ford | 126 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Joe Gibbs | 153 |
Hendrick | 143 |
23XI | 114 |
Trackhouse | 110 |
RFK | 108 |
Penske | 105 |
RCR | 105 |
Spire | 99 |
Legacy Motor Club | 97 |
Front Row | 93 |
Hyak | 86 |
Kaulig | 76 |
Wood Bros | 57 |
Haas Factory | 36 |
Rick Ware | 33 |
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
Ryan Blaney | 43 |
Joey Logano | 40 |
William Byron | 40 |
Tyler Reddick | 33 |
Bubba Wallace | 31 |
Christopher Bell | 25 |
Austin Cindric | 24 |
Chase Elliott | 22 |
Ryan Preece | 18 |
Kyle Larson | 17 |
Milestone Watch
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Kyle Larson | Looking for his 30th Career Win |
Ty Dillon | This will be his 250th Career Start |
Zane Smith | This will be his 50th Career Start |
Carson Hocevar | This will be his 50th Career Start |
Christopher Bell | Looking for his 50th Career Top 5 |
Ross Chastain | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10 |
Noah Gragson | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
John Hunter Nemechek | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Alex Bowman | Looking for his 100th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 145 races |
Cole Custer | 98 races |
Bubba Wallace | 83 races |
Erik Jones | 83 races |
Kyle Busch | 61 races |
Michael McDowell | 52 races |
Daniel Suarez | 38 races |
Chase Elliott | 31 races |
Denny Hamlin | 29 races |
Brad Keselowski | 27 races |
The race begins Sunday, March 16th at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 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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