Loop Data Provides Insight To Scouting Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500

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First it was Elliott Sadler who was forced to pit because of a loose lug nut. Then Tony Stewart suffered the fate of a faulty fuel pump. Later it was Denny Hamlin, whose fuel pump also broke.

All three had tremendous runs at Sunday’s Food City 500, but the final results showed none of it. That’s where the Driver Rating comes in.

Luck, good and bad, plays more of a part in NASCAR than any other sport. Who could have predicted Stewart would have fallen victim to a faulty fuel pump? For more than half of Sunday’s race, he seemed destined for Victory Lane. If not him, at least his teammate Hamlin would have capped off an impressive race with a win. But neither finished in the top 10. Both suffered some rotten luck.

The Driver Rating in these instances give credit where credit is due, telling the whole story of a particular race.