8 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 90.7
2009 Rundown
• Seven top fives, 13 top 10s
• Average finish of 13.6
• Led 11 races for 162 laps
Lowe’s Motor Speedway Outlook:
• Four top fives, seven top 10s
• Average finish of 10.0 in nine races
• Average Running Position of 15.8, eighth-best
• Driver Rating of 90.7, seventh-best
• 62 Fastest Laps Run, 13th-most
• 634 Green Flag Passes, second-most
• Average Green Flag Speed of 174.807 mph, 10th-fastest
• 1,741 Laps in the Top 15 (55.0%), eighth-most
9 - Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 101.0
2009 Rundown
• Two wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 12.9
• Led 15 races for 1,036 laps
Lowe’s Motor Speedway Outlook:
• Three top 10s
• Average finish of 15.6 in eight races
• Average Running Position of 15.4, seventh-best
• Driver Rating of 80.4, 14th-best
• 1,746 Laps in the Top 15 (63.1%), seventh-most
• 260 Quality Passes, 11th-most
10 - Ryan Newman (No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 81.8
2009 Rundown
• Five top fives, 14 top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 14.0
• Led 13 races for 187 laps
Lowe’s Motor Speedway Outlook:
• Four top fives, six top 10s; eight poles
• Average finish of 20.7 in 17 races
• Average Running Position of 18.1, 13th-best
• Driver Rating of 78.5, 17th-best
11 - Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 88.8
2009 Rundown
• Two wins, five top fives, 12 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.9
• Led 6 races for 180 laps
Lowe’s Motor Speedway Outlook:
• Three wins, four top fives, six top 10s
• Average finish of 12.4 in 11 races
• Average Running Position of 12.0, fourth-best
• Driver Rating of 99.5, fourth-best
• 255 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
• 618 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most
• Average Green Flag Speed of 174.790 mph, 12th-fastest
• 1,988 Laps in the Top 15 (62.8%), fourth-most
• 356 Quality Passes, third-most
12 - Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 84.7
2009 Rundown
• One win, four top fives, 13 top 10s; six poles
• Average finish of 16.1
• Led 10 races for 101 laps
Lowe’s Motor Speedway Outlook:
• Two top fives, three top 10s
• Average finish of 22.5 in 11 races
• Average Running Position of 16.0, ninth-best
• Driver Rating of 91.7, sixth-best
• 185 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most
• 509 Green Flag Passes, 12th-most
• Average Green Flag Speed of 175.271 mph, fourth-fastest
• 1,556 Laps in the Top 15 (55.0%), 12th-most
• 263 Quality Passes, 10th-most
At Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
History
• Construction began on Charlotte Motor Speedway, as Lowe’s Motor Speedway was then known, in 1959.
• The track’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on June 19, 1960.
• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race was May 29, 1982.
• The track was repaved midseason in 1994.
• The track name changed from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1999.
• The first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at LMS was on May 16, 2003.
• The track was re-paved again before the 2006 season.
Notebook
• There have been 101 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, two races per year since the track opened in 1960. In 1961, there were two 100-mile qualifying points races held the week before the May race. The first six fall races at Charlotte were 400-mile events (1960-65).
• 37 drivers have posted poles, led by David Pearson with 14.
• Fireball Roberts won the pole for the first race, in 1960.
• David Pearson posted 11 straight poles at Lowe’s from the fall of 1973 through 1978.
• Ryan Newman leads all active drivers in poles, with eight.
• Jeff Gordon won five straight poles for the spring races between 1994 and 1998.
• 42 drivers have won races, led by Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip with six each. David Reutimann became a first-time series winner in May after winning the Coca-Cola 600.
• Joe Lee Johnson won the first race, in 1960.
• Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson lead all active drivers in victories, each with five.
• There have been 13 back-to-back victories, including three in-a-row by Fred Lorenzen (fall 1964 and both 1965) and four straight by Jimmie Johnson (both in 2004 and 2005).
• A sweep has occurred eight times, including each season from 2004-2007.
• 13 races have been won from the pole, the last by Jimmie Johnson in the 2004 Coca-Cola 600.
• Jimmie Johnson won the 2003 Coca-Cola 600 from the 37th starting position, the furthest back a race winner has started.
• Jimmie Johnson is the only driver with more than one LMS race to average top 10 finishes (9.1). He comes just short of the all-time best average finish there, held by Rex White (9.0).
• A number of active drivers earned their first win at LMS: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and David Reutimann.
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