Kevin Harvick - Super-consistent, But No Victories At Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Jul 24, 2007
CIA Stock Photos
Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford) has never won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a look at the stat sheet makes that fact look somewhat puzzling.
Lack of victories aside, Kenseth, the super-consistent 2003 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion, has quickly become accustomed to the legendary oval in his relatively short career.
Kenseth has seven Indy starts, with four top-five results and an average finish of 13.7. He also has a series-high Driver Rating (derived from an amalgam of NASCAR’s electronic Loop Data) of 114.0.
Loop Data gathering dates back to the start of 2005, so it’s not surprising that 2005 Indy winner Tony Stewart would have the second-best Indy Driver Rating of 109.2.
As for series point leader and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), the four-time winner of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard has a deceiving Driver Rating of 80.8, a figure that doesn’t involve his four years (1994, ’98, 2001, ’04) of victory. A more-telling stat in Gordon’s case would be his average Indy finish of 9.3, or perhaps his total of 10 top-10 finishes in the 13 years NASCAR has raced at IMS.
