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Seven drivers have won NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races this season, potentially earning 10 valuable bonus points for each victory. If those drivers make the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, their “seedings” entering the Chase will be determined by the number of wins they accumulated over the first 26 races of the season. Jimmie Johnson, currently with four victories, has earned a potential 40 bonus points if he were to make the Chase. Jeff Gordon has three wins for a potential total of 30 bonus points. Martin Truex Jr. sits just eight points out of the 12th position and should he move into the top 12, would vault to seventh or eighth based on the seeding process if he makes the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.
2007 Season Highlights
• Four-time series champion, Jeff Gordon has led the points for the past nine weeks.
• Jimmie Johnson has won four races, accumulating a potential 40 points toward his seeding, if he qualifies for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.
• Jeff Gordon won his 77th career race, breaking a tie with Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all-time win list. Gordon had tied Earnhardt’s mark of 76 wins the prior week in Phoenix.
• The Car of Tomorrow made its debut, running six races.
• Toyota made its NASCAR NEXTEL Cup debut.
• At Bristol, Chevrolet posted its 600th victory.
• Hendrick Motorsports posted five consecutive victories (Phoenix through Charlotte), the first time since 1971 a car owner won five straight.
• Two drivers have posted first career victories: Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr. The following pages contain reviews and analysis of various statistical data which impacts the ongoing standings and the eventual goal of making the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.
Qualifying
• There have been five different Bud Pole winners: Jeff Gordon (five); Ryan Newman (three), David Gilliland, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer (one each). Qualifying was canceled at Texas due to inclement weather.
• Clint Bowyer won the Bud Pole at Darlington, his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup pole. There has been a first-time Bud Pole winner each season since 1987 – 21 years running.
• Ryan Newman’s pole at Atlanta ended a streak of 20 races without a pole – the longest of his career.
• Jeff Gordon leads all other drivers, with 10 top-10 starts this season.
• Ryan Newman won the Bud Pole at Charlotte and Dover, his first back-to-back Bud Poles since Atlanta- Texas in November 2005.
First-timers
• David Ragan finished fifth in the Daytona 500, earning a top-10 ranking in the point standings for the first time in his career.
• Aric Almirola and Jon Wood both made their first career start when they qualified at Las Vegas.
• AJ Allmendinger and Regan Smith both made their first career start at Bristol.
• David Ragan led two laps at Talladega – the first laps led in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career.
• Clint Bowyer won his first career Bud Pole when he qualified first at Darlington.
• Casey Mears won his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race with his victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
• Martin Truex Jr., followed Mears – scoring his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory the following week at Dover.
The Races
• There have been eight different race winners, led by Jimmie Johnson (four). Johnson posted back-toback victories at Las Vegas and Atlanta and then won at Martinsville and Richmond.
• Johnson’s victory at Las Vegas was his third consecutive win there.
• Jeff Gordon (three) is the only other repeat race winner. Gordon posted back-to-back victories at Phoenix and Talladega.
• Jeff Gordon has posted nine top-five and 10 top-10 finishes – both more than any other driver.
• The Richmond and Darlington races were postponed from Saturday night to Sunday. The last time consecutive races were postponed was Martinsville and North Wilkesboro in 1992.
Laps Completed
• Matt Kenseth is the only driver that has completed every lap in 2007.
• Denny Hamlin has completed all but two laps this season.
• Mark Martin has completed every lap in the 10 races that he has competed.
LMS Struggles
Jeff Gordon failed to finish the Coca- Cola 600 – his first DNF since the race at Lowe’s last fall. He has now failed to finish his last five races at Charlotte. Gordon has not had more than two consecutive DNFs at any other track on the circuit.
Laps Led
• No driver has led in every race this season.
• Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth have led in 10 races. Gordon leads all other drivers in bonus points earned this season with 70.
• Jeff Gordon has led 674 of the 4,053 laps – 15.14 percent of the laps raced.
• Seven different drivers have led the most laps in a race: Jeff Gordon (four), Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch (two each), Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. (one each).
• Only four times has the race winner led the most laps: California (Matt Kenseth), Atlanta (Jimmie Johnson), Talladega (Jeff Gordon) and Dover (Martin Truex Jr. ).
• Johnny Sauter led a lap during the second competition caution at Dover – his first lap led since Texas in April 2004.
The Bud Pole Winner
The performance of the Bud Pole Winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 13
Led at All 13
Led Most Laps 3
Won Race 2
Led Most Laps and Won 1
Points
• Only two drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points for every race: Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon.
• Mark Martin led the points from California through Atlanta, becoming the oldest driver to lead the points for more than a week under the current point system. Martin, who is 48, falls behind Bobby Allison (51 in 1988) and Morgan Shepherd (49 in 1990) as the third-oldest driver to lead the points. Allison and Shepherd both led the standings for just one week at that age.
• Jeff Gordon assumed the points lead after Bristol.
• Kurt Busch moved into 10th in the point standings with his third-place finish at Talladega, his first time in the top 10 since he finished the 2005 season in 10th place.
• David Ragan ranked fifth in the point standings for the first two weeks of the season, the highest point standings by a Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate in 2007.
Turn Around
• Eight of the current top-12 in the point standings finished in the final top-10 in 2006; nine finished in the top 12.
• Tony Raines and David Stremme share the mark for the largest gain over their 2006 final point standing – each gaining 12 positions.
Mark Martin is currently ranked 12th in the championship point standings despite having participated in only 10 of the 13 races this season. Regan Smith, who drove in the No. 01 U. S. Army Chevrolet in the races that Martin did not compete, scored 269 points in those races. Those points would move Martin to sixth in the point standings.
Rookie Performance
• Three different drivers have been the highest finishing rookie at least once this season: Juan Pablo Montoya (six), David Ragan (five) and Paul Menard (two)
• The best finish by a rookie has been fifth by David Ragan at Daytona and by Juan Pablo Montoya at Atlanta.
Car Owner Points
• Sterling Marlin and the No. 14 Ginn Racing Chevrolet was the only driver in the first five races of the season that had to make the field on time and do so in all five races.
• The biggest gain in car owner points over the final 2006 standings is held by the No. 01 owned by Bobby Ginn. The No. 01 ranked 28th in the final 2006 owner point standings and is currently 22 positions ahead of that ranking.
• Only one of the teams in the current top 35 in owner point did not compete in 2006: Bobby Ginn (No. 13).
Car Owner Streaks and Sweeps
• Hendrick Motorsports won five consecutive races (Phoenix through Charlotte). Prior to this season, the previous time a car owner won five straight was Petty Enterprises in 1971. Hendrick’s five wins were compiled by three drivers.
• Hendrick Motorsports has already swept the top-two finishing positions four times in 2007. Last season, an owner posted a 1-2 finish just once (Jack Roush Racing at Dover in June). In the 10 seasons prior to this, there were only thirty-two 1-2 (or better) finishes by an owner – and an owner has posted four in a season only once. Roush Fenway Racing (2005).
• Hendrick also has posted back-to-back 1-2 finishes this season (Talladega and Richmond). In the previous 10 seasons this has occurred just once. Roush did so at Bristol and Texas in 1998.
Manufacturer
• Chevrolet and Dodge debuted new models for the Car of Tomorrow in its inaugural race at Bristol. The new Chevrolet model was an Impala while the Dodge was an Avenger. It was the first race for the Impala model since the mid-1960s and the first ever for the Avenger.
• Chevrolet got its 600th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory with Kyle Busch’s win at Bristol. Busch’s victory was the first for the Chevrolet Impala since Wendell Scott won at Jacksonville (Fla. ) Speedway Park on Dec. 1, 1963.
• Toyota scored its first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup top-five when Brian Vickers finished fifth at Charlotte. Blazing Start
• Chevrolet has won 12 of the first 13 races this season, the best start to a season for a manufacturer since Chevrolet won the first seven races and nine of the first 11 in 1995.
o Ford notched nine consecutive wins in 1992, the longest streak to start a season ever.
o Ford won 33 of the first 34 races of the 55-race season in 1965. Mercury won the second race of the season that year.
