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With his win at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson posted his 12th Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and his fifth in 2008. Johnson also took the points lead for the first time since the final race in 2007, and now leads by 10 points over Carl Edwards.
Chase Notes: Race 3
• 11 of the 12 Chase drivers posted at least one top-10 finish in the three Chase races; seven finished in the top 10 in all three.
• 11 Chase drivers led laps in at least one of the first three Chase races, with two leading in all three. In the three races, Chase drivers led 868 of the 967 laps.
• 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 won Race 3 of this season’s Chase, extending his lead in Chase victories to 12.
• Greg Biffle’s victory at New Hampshire vaulted him from ninth to third in the points standings, tying Kurt Busch for the second-biggest gain in the first Chase race since its inception in 2004. Clint Bowyer gained seven spots in the first Chase race in 2007, the largest gain in the kick-off race in Chase history.
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 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 won for the first time at Kansas Speedway, his fifth victory of the season.
Qualifying
• 78 drivers have 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 have been 13 different pole winners in 2008: Jimmie Johnson (five), Jeff Gordon (three), 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) and Carl Edwards (one).
• Patrick Carpentier became the first driver to post a career-first pole in 2008 when he won the pole at New Hampshire. He continued a 22-year streak of at least one first-time pole winner (1987-2008).
• Paul Menard won his career-first pole in the second Daytona race. It was the first time that first-time poles had been posted in back-to-back races since David Green (11/12 – Homestead) and Kevin Lepage (11/21 – Atlanta) in 1999.
• Qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather at the Auto Club Speedway, Bristol, Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Richmond-2 and New Hampshire-2.
• 46 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 start, led by Jimmie Johnson with 22.
• Mark Martin has won the outside front-row position five times this season.
• The pole winner (or driver who started first) has won seven times and has finished in the top 10 in 15 races this season.
• Two pole winners have gone on to finish last in that race: Ryan Newman (Phoenix) and Greg Biffle (Darlington).
• 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 average finish of the pole winner in 2008 is 12.61.
The Races
• 67 drivers have qualified for/participated in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season.
• 35 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Carl Edwards with 22.
• There have been six green-white-checkered finishes this season: Bristol, Texas, Richmond, Michigan, Infineon and Daytona-2.
• One race has gone less than the scheduled distance: New Hampshire-1 (284 of 301 laps).
• The race has been won from a top-10 start 21 times this season.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner started in 2008 was 31st, by Clint Bowyer at Richmond.
• Seven races have been won from the pole and the average start of the race winner in 2008 is 7.96.
First-Timers
Start Pole Win
Dario Franchitti (Daytona) Patrick Carpentier (New Hampshire) None
Michael McDowell (Martinsville) Paul Menard (Daytona-2)
Marcos Ambrose (Infineon)
Max Papis (Infineon)
Joey Logano (New Hampshire-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) Carl Edwards (Las Vegas) *
* Lost points lead after mid-week penalty
The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 7
2nd-5th 6
6th-10th 2
11th-30th 9
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 20
Led at All 28
Led Most Laps 9
Won Race 7
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 7
2nd-5th 9
6th-10th 8
11th-30th 4
31st or beyond 1
• The lap leader performance of the race winner:
Led First Lap 6
Led Most Laps 12
Led Mid-Race Lap 6
Led With 10 to Go 18
Led With One to Go 28
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
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