The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 9
2nd-5th 8
6th-10th 3
11th-30th 11
31st or beyond 5
• The lap leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 26
Led at All 35
Led Most Laps 12
Won Race 9
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 9
2nd-5th 12
6th-10th 8
11th-30th 5
31st or beyond 2
• The lap leader performance of the race winner:
Led First Lap 7
Led Most Laps 17
Led Mid-Race Lap 9
Led With 10 to Go 24
Led With One to Go 35
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
Rookie Performance
• Regan Smith won the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year Award.
• Five different drivers were the highest-finishing rookie in 2008:
Regan Smith (12)
Sam Hornish Jr. (11)
Patrick Carpentier (seven)
Michael McDowell (five)
Dario Franchitti (one)
Laps Led
• Jimmie Johnson led 1,959 laps this season, more than any other driver.
• 50 drivers led at least one lap this season. No one has led in every race.
• 11 drivers led the most laps in a race this season:
Jimmie Johnson (10)
Kyle Busch (seven)
Carl Edwards (five)
Tony Stewart (four)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (three)
Matt Kenseth (two)
Denny Hamlin (one)
Greg Biffle (one)
Kasey Kahne (one)
Mark Martin (one)
David Reutimann (one)
Brotherly Wins
Kyle Busch won at Infineon Raceway, followed by brother Kurt at New Hampshire, giving them the first back-to-back wins by brothers since Kyle won at California and Kurt at Richmond in September 2005. Kyle again won at Daytona, making it the first time brothers had won three consecutive races since 1955-
56. Tim Flock won the final race of 1955 and the first of 1956 and his brother, Fonty, won the second race. Kyle posted the fourth straight win for the Busch brothers with his win at Chicago. It was the fourth time that brothers had won four straight:
1952 – Tim (Race No. 22 and 23), Bob (Race No. 24) and Fonty Flock (Race No. 25)
1952 – Herb (Race No. 31 and 32), Donald (Race No. 33) and Herb Thomas (Race No. 34)
1955 – Tim (Race No. 36 and 37), Fonty (Race No. 38) and Tim Flock (Race No. 39)
Owner Highlights
• Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500, his first career restrictor-plate victory. Teammate Kurt Busch finished second, giving car owner Roger Penske his first restrictor-plate victory and first 1-2 finish in 25 years of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.
• Richard Childress Racing captured the top three finishing positions in the first Bristol race: Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, respectively. It was the first 1-2-3 finish for a car owner since Roush Fenway racing captured the top four spots at Homestead in November 2005: Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, respectively.
• Joe Nemechek won the pole at Talladega, giving car owner Barney Visser his first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup pole. It came in Visser’s 49th as a car owner.
• Hendrick Motorsports began competing in NASCAR Sprint Cup in 1984 and won its first race in 1986. HMS has posted at least one victory each of its 22 seasons since and has gone past the seventh race of a season before posting its first win eight times – but only four times since 1994 (including this season). The deepest that HMS has gone into a season before scoring a win was 1992 when the first victory did not come until race No. 23.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Michigan and became the 14th different driver to win for Hendrick Motorsports. Every full-time driver for Hendrick Motorsports since 2000 has posted at least one victory while with the organization.
• Marcos Ambrose posted a third-place finish driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford at Watkins Glen, the first top-five finish for the Wood Brothers since Ricky Rudd’s fourth at Bristol in August 2005.
• Carl Edwards posted only the second NASCAR Sprint Cup-NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend sweep at Michigan when he won both races there in August. Both came with Jack Roush as the car owner. Mark Martin posted the first in 1993.
• Roush Fenway Racing swept the top three finishing positions at Dover-2: Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. It was the second 1-2-3 sweep by a car owner in 2008.
Penalties
• There have been 619 on-track penalties issued this season.
• Penalty Recap:
Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 310
Too Fast Entering Pit Road 63
Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 87
Others 159
Manufacturer
• Chevrolet won the Manufacturers’ Championship with 219 points – its sixth straight title and 32nd overall. Ford had 215, Toyota 207 and Dodge 151.
• Chevrolet and Ford both had 11 victories in 2008. Toyota had 10 victories while Dodge had four wins.
• All four manufacturers have been in the top four finishers four times this season: Texas, Charlotte, Michigan and Indianapolis.
Records
• Kevin Harvick extended his current streak of running at the finish to 80 races. That is the all-time record for consecutive races without a DNF. Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, is second on the list, currently on a 73-race streak of running at the finish. Note: Herman Beam completed 84 consecutive races that he competed in (1961-63), but he did not race in all of the scheduled events during his personal streak. His longest consecutive-race streak was 35 races.
• Five foreign-born drivers participated at Infineon Raceway: Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Patrick Carpentier and Ron Fellows (Canada), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) and Max Papis (Italy). It was the largest contingent of foreign-born drivers in a race in NASCAR Sprint Cup history, eclipsing the previous mark of three which was set eight times – most recently at Infineon in 2007.
• At Watkins Glen, three nations were represented among the top five for the first time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history. Kyle Busch (first), Tony Stewart (second) and Martin Truex Jr. (fifth) are from the United States, Marcos Ambrose (third) is from Australia and Juan Pablo Montoya (fourth)
is from Colombia.
• The 28 different drivers that led at Talladega-2 set the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series record for different lap leaders in a race. It eclipsed the mark of 26 set at Talladega in July 1986 and tied in April 2001, also at Talladega.
Notebook
• Ryan Newman posted the first Daytona 500 victory for Dodge since Ward Burton won in 2002. That victory was the only other restrictor-plate victory for Dodge.
• Tony Stewart won at Talladega Superspeedway in his 20th attempt. That leaves only three active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tracks at which Stewart has not visited Victory Lane: Auto Club Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Among active drivers, only Jeff Gordon has won at more tracks. Gordon has yet to win at two tracks: Homestead-Miami Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. By contrast Jimmie Johnson has yet to visit Victory Lane at five active tracks: Bristol, Chicago, Homestead-Miami, Michigan, Infineon.
• Kasey Kahne was the only driver with three top-10 finishes in the first three races this season. In 2007, Kahne did not get his third top 10 until race No. 24 (Bristol).
• Jeff Gordon won the pole at Atlanta, making this his 16th consecutive year with a pole. He is third on the all-time list for consecutive years with a pole behind David Pearson (20) and Richard Petty (17).
• Jeff Gordon finished 43rd after his accident at Texas, just the second time in his career that he finished 43rd. The other also came at Texas (March 1999).
• Greg Biffle won the pole on the newly-repaved Darlington Raceway, breaking Ward Burton’s 1996 track qualifying record. Burton’s was the longest-standing qualifying record at an active, nonrestrictor- plate track.
• Denny Hamlin led 381 laps, setting the record for the number of laps led in a 400-lap race at Richmond. He eclipsed the mark of 369 set by Bobby Allison in September 1979. The record for laps led all-time at Richmond is 488 of 500 on the half-mile configuration by David Pearson in September 1970.
• Kyle Busch led 786 laps in the first 14 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season. He had also led the exact same number through the first 15 races (the same weekend) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
• Kyle Busch led 415 laps at Bristol, the 13th time a driver has led 400 laps or more at the Tennessee short track. The standard was set by Cale Yarborough, who led all 500 laps in March 1973. Busch became the third driver to lead over 400 laps and not win the race, joining Richard Petty (442 laps in July 1964) and Rusty Wallace (409 laps in August 1993).
• 42 cars completed the Pepsi 500 – setting the track record for cars running at the finish for Auto Club Speedway.
• The 43 cars running at the finish in the second Richmond race is the first time that all the cars have been running at the finish of a Richmond race, breaking the record of 39 which occurred four times. It was just the second time since the field was mandated to 43 cars that all starters finished a race. The other was at New Hampshire in September 2007.
• The 40 cars running at the finish at Dover set the record for cars finishing a race there.
• The 42 cars running at the finish at Kansas set the record for cars finishing a race there.
• Chad McCumbee started his first Lowe’s Motor Speedway race, becoming the 500th different driver to compete at LMS.
• Mark Martin has started second six times this season – all as a result of timed qualifying. The modern era record for second-place starts is 10 by Jeff Gordon in 1996. Richard Petty (1964) and David Pearson (1968) each had 17 second-place starts – the all-time record – but both came in seasons with more than 48 races.
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