Jimmie Johnson won the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship – his third consecutive title. He joined Cale Yarborough (1976-78) as the only drivers to win three consecutive series championships. With seven wins, 15 top fives and 22 top 10s, Johnson finished the 2008 season 69 points ahead of Carl Edwards. Three of his victories and eight of his top-10s came during the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers won all 10 Chase races: Jimmie Johnson (three), Carl Edwards (three), Greg Biffle (two), along with Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton (one each).
Chase Notes: After Race 10
• All 12 Chase drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in a Chase race. Only Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards did so in eight.
• All 12 Chase drivers have led laps in at least one of the first nine Chase races, with Jimmie Johnson leading in nine.
• Chase drivers led 2,642 of the 3,234 laps (81.7%).
• With his back-to-back wins at New Hampshire and Dover to open the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Greg Biffle became the first driver to win the first two Chase races.
• Jimmie Johnson has won 14 of the 50 Chase races run since the inception of the playoff system, including three this season.
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 foreign-based manufacturer since Jaguar won with Al Keller 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.
• Kasey Kahne followed up his win in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He became the sixth driver to win both races in the same season.
• Kyle Busch became the first driver to post four victories with his win at Dover.
• Kasey Kahne won the Pocono 500 and became the third multiple-race winner of 2008.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Michigan, ending a 76-race winless streak.
• Kyle Busch won at Infineon Raceway, scoring his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series roadcourse victory and giving him victories on all four types of tracks in NASCAR’s premier circuit.
• Kurt Busch won at New Hampshire, his first victory since Michigan in August 2007.
• Kyle Busch continued to win, capturing the July race at Daytona, his sixth win of the season.
• At Chicagoland, Kyle Busch won back-to-back races for the first time in his career, extending his collection of checkered flags in 2008 to seven.
• At Indianapolis, Jimmie Johnson won his second race of 2008 – his second win at the Brickyard.
• Carl Edwards returned to Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway after waiting out rain and fuel issues for his fourth victory of the season.
• Kyle Busch won at Watkins Glen, completing a sweep of the two road-course races this season.
• Carl Edwards completed the second NASCAR Sprint Cup-NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend sweep of the season with his victory at Michigan.
• Carl Edwards posted back-to-back victories for the second time in 2008 when he won at Bristol.
• Jimmie Johnson dominated the field at Auto Club Speedway, scoring a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 to post his third victory.
• Jimmie Johnson reversed his California strategy at Richmond, waiting until the closing laps before moving to the front to capture his fourth win of the season.
• With his victory at New Hampshire, Greg Biffle became the 11th different race winner in 2008.
• Greg Biffle won at Dover, posting consecutive series wins for the first time in his career.
• Jimmie Johnson continued to share Victory Lane with Roush Fenway drivers as he posted his fifth victory of 2008 in winning the Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman at Kansas Speedway.
• Tony Stewart won at Talladega, his 33rd career victory but his first in 2008. It was also his first win at Talladega Superspeedway.
• Jeff Burton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, making 2008 his first multiple-win season since 2001.
• Jimmie Johnson won at Martinsville in dominating fashion, leading 339 laps – the most he has ever led in a race in his career.
• Carl Edwards won at Atlanta, posting his seventh win of 2008.
• Carl Edwards won at Texas, closing the gap between himself and points leader Jimmie Johnson to 106 points with two races remaining.
• Jimmie Johnson posted his seventh victory of 2008 with his win at Phoenix.
• Carl Edwards posted his series-leading ninth victory with his win in the season finale at Homestead- Miami Speedway.
Qualifying
• 84 drivers 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 were 15 different pole winners in 2008:
Jimmie Johnson (six)
Jeff Gordon (four)
Kyle Busch (two)
Greg Biffle (two)
Kasey Kahne (two)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one)
Ryan Newman (one)
Joe Nemechek (one)
Denny Hamlin (one)
Patrick Carpentier (one)
Paul Menard (one)
Brian Vickers (one)
Carl Edwards (one)
Travis Kvapil (one)
David Reutimann (one)
• There were four first-time pole winners in 2008, continuing a 22-year streak of at least one first-time pole winner (1987-2008).
Patrick Carpentier (New Hampshire)
Paul Menard (Daytona-2)
Travis Kvapil (Talladega-2)
David Reutimann (Homestead)
• Patrick Carpentier and Paul Menard won consecutive career-first poles – the first time that careerfirst poles had been posted in back-to-back races since David Green (Homestead) and Kevin Lepage (Atlanta) in 1999.
• Qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather at the Auto Club Speedway, Bristol, Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Richmond-2, New Hampshire-2, Lowe’s-2, Martinsville-2 and Atlanta-2.
• 49 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 start, led by Jimmie Johnson with 27.
• The pole winner (or driver who started first) won nine times and finished in the top 10 in 20 races this season.
• Two pole winners went on to finish last in that race: Ryan Newman (Phoenix) and Greg Biffle (Darlington).
• The average finish of the pole winner in 2008 is 12.28.
• Landon Cassill won the pole for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at New Hampshire and Patrick Carpentier followed up with the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. It was the first time ever that two Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates swept the poles at the same track in a weekend.
The Races
• 71 drivers qualified for/participated in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season.
• There were 12 different race winners this season:
Carl Edwards (nine)
Kyle Busch (eight)
Jimmie Johnson (six)
Greg Biffle (two)
Jeff Burton (two)
Ryan Newman (one)
Clint Bowyer (one)
Kasey Kahne (one)
Denny Hamlin (one)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one)
Kurt Busch (one)
Tony Stewart (one)
• 37 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Carl Edwards with 27.
• Eight drivers had a best finish of second this season:
David Gilliland
Jeff Gordon
Kevin Harvick
Matt Kenseth
Paul Menard
Juan Pablo Montoya
Brian Vickers
Michael Waltrip
• There were nine green-white-checkered finishes this season: Bristol-1, Texas-1, Richmond-1, Michigan-1, Infineon, Daytona-2, Talladega-2, Martinsville-2 and Phoenix-2.
Bristol
Texas
Richmond
Michigan
Infineon
Daytona-2
Talladega-2
Martinsville-2
Phoenix-2
• The race was won from a top-10 start 28 times this season.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner started in 2008 was 34th, by Tony Stewart at Talladega-2.
• Nine races were won from the pole and the average start of the race winner in 2008 is 8.00.
First-Timers
Start Pole Win
Dario Franchitti (Daytona) Patrick Carpentier (New Hampshire) None
Michael McDowell (Martinsville) Paul Menard (Daytona-2)
Marcos Ambrose (Infineon) Travis Kvapil (Talladega-2)
Max Papis (Infineon) David Reutimann (Homestead)
Joey Logano (New Hampshire-2)
Scott Speed (Martinsville-2)
Brad Keselowski (Texas-2)
Laps Led Lead in Points Top 10 in Points
Dario Franchitti (California) Ryan Newman (Daytona) Reed Sorenson (Daytona)
Michael McDowell (Dover) Kyle Busch (California)
Sam Hornish Jr. (Michigan)
Scott Speed (Atlanta)
Carl Edwards (Las Vegas)*
* Lost points lead after mid-week penalty
