If the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup follows the form of the season’s first 26 races, it’s going to be a banner postseason.
No driver or team had a lock on Victory Lane. The season’s 15 different winners – most through 26 races since 2003 – represented nine different organizations.
Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing boasted five wins apiece and not surprisingly provide the numbers one and two seeds, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, in this year’s Chase. Only five drivers have been able to win more than once.
At the other end of the spectrum, there have been five first-time winners, three of whom picked the sport’s largest stages upon which to record their victories: Trevor Bayne in the Daytona 500, Regan Smith in the SHOWTIME Southern 500 and Paul Menard in the Brickyard 400.
There was speculation that under the new points system it would be impossible to recover from early season disappointment. Brad Keselowski blew that theory away with a red-hot August containing two wins and four consecutive top-five finishes that boosted him from 22nd to 11th and into the Chase as the first Wild Card qualifier.
Here are some other interesting facts about the 2011 season so far:
• Six different organizations qualified drivers for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
• All four series manufacturers qualified for the Chase, led by Chevrolet with six drivers
• An average of 28 different leaders per race, most through 26 races in series history
• 16 races had a margin of victory under a second, most through 26 races since 2001. That includes Talladega’s MOV of 0.002 seconds, which tied the closest finish since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993
• 16 different Coors Light Pole winners, most through 26 races since 2005
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