NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Season In Review - Week 14

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Season In Review - Week 14

Jun 04, 2008

Kyle Busch’s amazing season continued, with another dominating victory – this time at Dover International Speedway. The win pushed his victory total to four (Atlanta, Talladega and Darlington are the other three). Kasey Kahne added his name to the 2008 winners list – and returned to the top 12 in the process – with his win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Eight different drivers have now posted victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. Carl Edwards (three), Ryan Newman (one), Jeff Burton (one), Denny Hamlin (one), Jimmie Johnson (one), Clint Bowyer (one) and Kasey Kahne (one) are the other race winners. If those drivers make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, each has earned 10 points per win toward their Chase “seeding.” Ties in number of wins are broken by the NASCAR rule book (number of seconds, thirds, etc.).

2008 Season Highlights
• Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500, his first career restrictor plate victory.
• Carl Edwards won back-to-back races at California and Las Vegas – the second time in his career he has posted consecutive wins.
• Kyle Busch won at Atlanta – the first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Toyota. The victory came in the 40th start for Toyota in NASCAR’s premier series and was the first by a foreignbased manufacturer since Jaguar won with Al Keller at the wheel at Linden (N.J.) Airport in 1954.
• Jeff Burton won at Bristol and was followed across the line by teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer – giving car owner Richard Childress his first-ever 1-2-3 sweep.
• Carl Edwards won at Texas to join Jeff Burton as the only drivers with multiple victories at Texas.
• Kyle Busch won at Darlington and became the youngest race winner there.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Season In Review
• Kasey Kahne followed up his win in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race with victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He became the sixth driver to win both races in the same season.
Qualifying
• 66 drivers have attempted to qualify for at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season, including Matt Crafton who qualified Robby Gordon’s car at Dover.
• There have been seven different pole winners in 2008: Jeff Gordon (two), Kyle Busch (two), Greg Biffle (two), Jimmie Johnson (one), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one), Ryan Newman (one), Joe Nemechek (one), Denny Hamlin (one).
• Qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather at the Auto Club Speedway and Bristol.
• Jeff Gordon won the pole at Atlanta – making this his 16th consecutive year with a pole. Gordon is third on the all-time list for consecutive years with a pole, behind David Pearson (0) and Richard Petty (17).
• Greg Biffle won the pole on the newly-repaved Darlington Raceway, breaking Ward Burton’s 1996 track qualifying record.
• 35 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 start, led by Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson with 10.

The Races
• 54 drivers have qualified for/participated in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season.
• 31 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Kyle Busch with 10.
• There has been one track race record set this season: Darlington.
First-Timers

Start                                                       Pole                          Win


Dario Franchitti (Daytona)                       None                        None


Michael McDowell (Martinsville)





Laps Led                                            Lead in Points              Top 10 in Points


Dario Franchitti (California)            Ryan Newman (Daytona)   Reed Sorenson (Daytona)


Michael McDowell (Dover)             Kyle Busch (California)       Carl Edwards (Las Vegas) *

The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:

First                                   0


2nd-5th                              5


6th-10th                             0


11th-30th                           6


31st or beyond                  2

Led First Lap                  8


Led at All                        12


Led Most Laps                3


Won Race                       0

Pole                                  0


2nd-5th                             6


6th-10th                            6


11th-30th                          0


31st or beyond                 1

Led First Lap                    1


Led Most Laps                 4


Led Mid-Race Lap            1


Led With 10 to Go             8


Led With One to Go         12