All five Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup victories have gone to Chase drivers: Greg Biffle (two), Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton (one each). Halfway through the Chase, Johnson holds a 69-point lead over Burton. Only 86 points separate the top three drivers.
Chase Notes: Race 5
• All 12 Chase drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in a Chase race but only two have done so in all five: Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton.
• All 12 Chase drivers have led laps in at least one of the first five Chase races, with Jimmie Johnson leading in all five.
• In the five races, Chase drivers led 1,222 of the 1,491 laps (82%).
• 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.
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.
• 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, his second victory of the season. It is his first multiplewin season since 2001.
Qualifying
• 79 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 14 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)
Carl Edwards (one)
Travis Kvapil (one)
• There have been three 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)
• 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 and Lowe’s-2.
• 49 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 start, led by Jimmie Johnson with 23.
• The pole winner (or driver who started first) has won seven times and has finished in the top 10 in 16 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.
• Mark Martin has started second six times this season. 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.
• The average finish of the pole winner in 2008 is 13.42.
The Races
• 68 drivers have qualified for/participated in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
• 37 different drivers have posted at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Carl Edwards with 22.
• Eight drivers have a best finish of second:
David Gilliland
Jeff Gordon
Kevin Harvick
Matt Kenseth
Paul Menard
Juan Pablo Montoya
Brian Vickers
Michael Waltrip
• There have been seven green-white-checkered finishes:
Bristol
Texas
Richmond
Michigan
Infineon
Daytona-2
Talladega-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.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner started in 2008 was 34th, by Tony Stewart at Talladega-2.
• Seven races have been won from the pole and the average start of the race winner in 2008 is 8.45.
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)
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
| 
|