With good reason, much of the focus going into this weekend surrounds points leader Mark Martin and second-place Jimmie Johnson. Only 10 points separate the two, and they rank 1-2 in victories this season.
But the statistics suggest that the two frontrunners might want to pay attention to at least three other drivers: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle.
As one of the three drivers to win a title under the Chase format (Johnson and Kurt Busch are the others), Stewart has a championship-tested strategy in place. He also owns some of the top statistics over the remaining eight tracks.
Stewart’s average Driver Rating of 98.0 at the next eight tracks rank second among his fellow championship contenders. Additionally, he has an Average Running Position of 11.3 (second-best) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 74.8 (second).
Stewart, the regular season points leader, now trails Martin by 106 points. Though most drivers point to Talladega or Martinsville as the Chase wild card, Kansas might be exactly that for Stewart. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, he has lived on both sides of the success spectrum.
In 2005, Stewart finished fourth and followed it up with a Kansas victory in 2006. But in the last two races, he has finished 39th and 40th. The 39th-place run is a bit deceiving, though. In that race, he had one of the better cars, as his Driver Rating of 93.8 and his Average Running Position of 10.6 would suggest.
Overall in the last four Kansas races, Stewart has a Driver Rating of 91.3 (ninth), an Average Running Position of 12.9 (eighth), 30 Fastest Laps Run (eighth) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 67.8%. Auto Racing Daily
CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR 0 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Carquest / Kellogg's 6 David Ragan Ford UPS Freight 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Mapei / Menards 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 9 Mike Bliss Dodge Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Freight 12 David Stremme Dodge Penske Racing 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 16 Greg Biffle Ford Sherwin Williams / 3M 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Dewalt 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy 20 Joey Logano* Toyota The Home Depot 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 25 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Reese's 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Cheerios / Hamburger Helper 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Taco Bell 36 Michael McDowell Toyota Wave Energy Drink 37 Kevin Hamlin Dodge Long John Silver's 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge McDonald's Monopoly 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge Valvoline 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Little Debbie / Kingsford / Clorox 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's / Kobalt Tools 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 82 Scott Speed* Toyota Red Bull 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / Amp Energy 96 Erik Darnell Ford Northern Tool + Equipment 98 Paul Menard Ford Zecol / Menards 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 113 Max Papis* Toyota GEICO 171 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TRG Motorsports 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota NEMCO Motorsports
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