Two of the biggest names in the sport, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., have suddenly become afterthoughts.
How is that possible? The answer: Performance.
Take Johnson, the four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. It has been an up-and-down campaign for Johnson. His five wins are tied for a series-high with Denny Hamlin, yet his nine finishes outside the top 20 (nine) are the most in his nine-year career. The brunt of Johnson’s struggles has come recently. Over the last seven races, Johnson has had five finishes outside the top 20 and two outside the top 30. His average finish was 23.3 during the “slump.”
But there are two reasons for optimism. One, poor finishes aren’t always what they seem. In each of his last seven races, Johnson has had a better Average Running Position than his finish. For instance, two weeks ago at Bristol, Johnson finished 35th, but had an Average Running Position of 17.4 and a Driver Rating of 92.0.
Second, Johnson heads to Atlanta, one of his best tracks. His average Driver Rating at Atlanta of 109.5 makes it his 10th-best track in terms of the Loop Data statistic.
Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Johnson has scored a Driver Rating over 100.0 in eight of 11 Atlanta races. His average finish over that period is 9.1 and his Average Running Position is 7.8. Though he has finished outside the top 10 in the last two Atlanta events, he has finished first or second five times in the last 11.
Then there’s the curious case of Earnhardt, seven times voted NASCAR’s most popular driver.
Since consecutive top 10s at New Hampshire and Daytona, Earnhardt has struggled. In the last six races, he has finished outside the top 20 four times and has an average finish of 22.5. His Driver Rating over those six events was 66.3 and his Average Running Position was 20.7.
But, like Johnson, Earnhardt should rebound this weekend. Atlanta is Earnhardt’s second- best track in terms of Driver Rating (98.7). He scored a rating over 100.0 four times over the last 11 races, and over 90.0 seven times. He won there in 2004, prior to the inception of Loop Data.
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: News And Notes - Atlanta Motor Speedway
CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR 0 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Outdoors Mossy Oak 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet McDonald's 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Carquest / GoDaddy.com 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 7 Kevin Conway* Toyota Extenze 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser / Valvoline 9 Landon Cassill Chevrolet Phoenix Construction 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota Sport Clips 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge Penske Racing 13 Casey Mears Toyota GEICO 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M Scotch-Blue Painter's Tape 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Crown Royal 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Pedigree 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Stanley 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 21 Bill Elliott Ford FordParts.com 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Jeff Gordon Foundation / DuPont 26 Patrick Carpentier Ford Air National Guard 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cat Financial 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 34 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver's 36 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Tommy Baldwin Racing 37 David Gilliland Ford Taco Bell 38 Dave Blaney Ford A&W All American Food 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army Reserve 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Huggies 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Insignia HDTV / Best Buy 46 Michael McDowell Chevrolet Whitney Motorsports 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Little Debbie 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's / Kobalt Tools 55 Mike Bliss Toyota Prism Motorsports 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 66 Scott Riggs Toyota Prism Motorsports 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TaxSlayer.com 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 83 Reed Sorenson Toyota Red Bull 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota FrontRowJoe.com 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / Amp Energy 98 Paul Menard Ford Quaker State / Menards 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 132 Jason Leffler Toyota Braun Racing 164 Todd Bodine Toyota Gunselman Motorsports
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