Even when Jimmie Johnson doesn’t win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, he comes awful close.
He proved it in last Saturday’s NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, with a near-pass of Kevin Harvick on the final lap. He also proved it in both LMS races last year, where Kasey Kahne and Johnson finished 1-2 in each race.
Prior to 2006, Johnson had won four in a row at LMS and five out of six.
Even with Kahne’s 2006 LMS dominance, Johnson still holds the advantage in nearly every Loop Data statistic. Johnson earned first-place marks in each of the following categories:
• Average Running Position (7.899)
• Driver Rating (121.0)
• Green Flag Speed
• Laps in the Top 15 (1,321/possible 1,470)
• Quality Passes – Passes of cars in the top 15 under green (228)
• Speed in Traffic
• Closer – Positions improved in the last 10% of laps in each race – 41 positions improved, twice that of Greg Biffle’s (No. 16 DISH Network Ford) 20.
Also, Johnson has 104 Fastest Laps Run over the past two years, second to Kahne (159).
Kahne, though sitting in 30th place in standings, has to be optimistic. In sweeping the 2006 LMS races, Kahne improved his LMS statistics.
Over the last two years, Kahne has an Average Running Position of 10.423 (second), Driver Rating of 107.2 (second), 308 Green Flag Passes (tied for sixth), fifth-fastest Green Flag Speed, and 1,041 Laps in the Top 15 (fourth).
Four others have excelled at LMS the last two years: Biffle, Mark Martin (No. 01 U. S. Army Chevrolet), Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford).
Biffle has the third-best Driver Rating at 100.9, the fourth-best Average Running Position at 13.340 and 64 Fastest Laps Run (fifth-most).
Martin, whose stats have all been accumulated in a Roush Fenway Ford, has the third-best Average Running Position at 11.488 and the fourth-best Driver Rating (96.5).
Busch has the fifth-best Driver Rating (91.3) and the third-most Fastest Laps Run (70).
Edwards, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his four LMS starts, has more Green Flag Passes than any driver at 354. His Driver Rating, 88.6, is sixth-best.
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