By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Phoenix is a 1-mile oval track with a unique dogleg corner just past the start-finish line. The track opened in 1964, but NASCAR didn’t start racing there until 1988. Alan Kulwicki won the first race there that year.
Tomorrow’s race will be 312 laps long (for a total of 312 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 60 – 185 – 312. Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 50 mph. The fuel window is between 95-105 laps, but tire wear may force pit stops to happen sooner than that.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 562 laps, for 1,135.96 miles so far this season. 11 drivers have completed all of them.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Ryan Blaney | 10.50 over 18 races |
Denny Hamlin | 10.82 over 39 races (2 wins) |
Kyle Larson | 11.05 over 21 races (1 win) |
William Byron | 11.14 over 14 races (1 win) |
Kyle Busch | 11.49 over 39 races (3 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at COTA:
Zane Smith | 33.00 over 3 races |
Cody Ware | 31.29 over 7 races |
Michael McDowell | 28.39 over 28 races |
John Hunter Nemechek | 26.60 over 5 races |
Ryan Preece | 25.55 over 11 races |
Phoenix is categorized as a Short Track.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.09 over 185 races (13 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.28 over 98 races (4 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 11.95 over 54 races (5 wins) |
Shane Van Gisbergen | 12.00 over 1 race |
Ryan Blaney | 12.53 over 102 races (3 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Michael McDowell | 26.62 over 162 races |
John Hunter Nemechek | 24.89 over 23 races |
Ty Dillon | 23.75 over 74 races |
Noah Gragson | 22.86 over 23 races |
Ryan Preece | 22.79 over 58 races |
Kevin Harvick is the winningest driver at Phoenix, with 9 wins there all-time. Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano are tied for 2nd, with four wins each.
Notable drivers who have not won at Phoenix:
Brad Keselowski | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
Ryan Blaney | (has won at 9 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Alex Bowman | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Chase Briscoe scored his first ever Cup Series win at Phoenix, it was his 40th career start.
Based on average finish, no driver list Phoenix as their BEST track. Zane Smith has it as his 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 2024
Tyler Reddick | +820 pts |
Bubba Wallace | +575 pts |
Chris Buescher | +457 pts |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | +450 pts |
Carson Hocevar | +364 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024
Ty Gibbs | -623 pts |
Josh Berry | -541 pts |
Brad Keselowski | -422 pts |
Denny Hamlin | -414 pts |
Kyle Larson | -330 pts |
Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:
Shane Van Gisbergen | 63 |
Riley Herbst | 60 |
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 | 115 |
Chevrolet | 110 |
Ford | 93 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Joe Gibbs | 113 |
Hendrick | 109 |
23XI | 97 |
Spire | 88 |
Trackhouse | 84 |
Penske | 81 |
RCR | 76 |
RFK | 76 |
Legacy Motor Club | 74 |
Hyak | 70 |
Front Row | 65 |
Kaulig | 55 |
Haas Factory | 31 |
Wood Bros | 24 |
Rick Ware | 20 |
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
Joey Logano | 31 |
Bubba Walace | 31 |
Ryan Blaney | 30 |
William Byron | 22 |
Austin Cindric | 20 |
Chase Elliott | 20 |
Tyler Reddick | 18 |
Alex Bowman | 17 |
Kyle Busch | 15 |
Kyle Larson | 14 |
Milestone Watch
Chase Elliott | Looking for his 20th Career Win |
Kyle Larson | Looking for his 30th Career Win |
AJ Allmendinger | This will be his 450th Career Start |
Ross Chastain | Looking for his 60th Career Top 10 |
Denny Hamlin | Looking for his 360th Career Top 10 |
John Hunter Nemechek | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Noah Gragson | Looking for his 10th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Justin Haley | 140 races |
Erik Jones | 80 races |
Bubba Wallace | 78 races |
Kyle Busch | 56 races |
Martin Truex Jr. | 52 races |
Michael McDowell | 47 races |
Daniel Suarez | 33 races |
William Byron | 27 races |
Chase Elliott | 26 races |
Denny Hamlin | 24 races |
The race begins Sunday, March 9th 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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