Statistical Advance - Analyzing The Kobalt Tools 500

Always acknowledged as one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule, Atlanta Motor Speedway can also claim to be one of the most interesting. It’s an arguable point, but Atlanta certainly has a leg to stand on in the discussion.

Figure this: of top 11 closest finishes since the advent of electronic scoring in May of 1993, three of them occurred at Atlanta. And two of the top five were at Atlanta.

So you better believe Atlanta has a solid case. It has the two things every NASCAR fan thrives on: speed and intrigue. And they have the numbers to back it up.

Take a look:

On March 11, 2001, Kevin Harvick defeated Jeff Gordon by. 006 seconds for the third closest margin of victory.

On March 12, 2000, Dale Earnhardt defeated Bobby Labonte by. 010 seconds – fifth closest.

And on March 20, 2005, Carl Edwards defeated Jimmie Johnson by. 028 seconds. That tied the mark for 11th closest.

Maybe the same could hold true this Sunday at the Kobalt Tools 500, the first of two races at Atlanta this season. We’ll have to wait and see. The action kicks off at 1:30 p. m. on Fox.

Selected Driver Highlights

Note: All driver stats are at Atlanta. NASCAR’s scoring loops began collecting data for statistical purposes in 2005. That is why the Loop Data statistics in this release cover the last four races at Atlanta.

Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ameriquest Ford)

* Two top fives, five top 10s

* Average finish of 12.0

* 286 laps led

* Highest Driver Rating of 116.0

* Highest Average Running Position of 6.192

* Fastest Driver on the Fronstretch, Turn 1, Turn 3

* Third Fastest on Backstretch, Turn 4

* Most Fastest Laps Run (181)

* Fastest Green Flag Speed, Speed in Traffic

Jeff Burton (No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet)

* Five top fives and 10 top 10s

* Average finish of 17.76

* Fifth-best Average Running Position of 11.052

* Driver Rating of 91.0, eighth best

* Fourth-Fastest in Turn 1, fifth-Fastest in Turn 3

* 1,021 Laps in the Top 15, fifth most

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet)

* One win, seven top fives, nine top 10s; one pole

* Average finish of 11.267

* 578 laps led

* Seventh-best Average Running Position of 12.405

* Sixth-best Driver Rating of 103.1

* Fastest Driver on the Backstretch; third-Fastest on Turn 2; fourth-Fastest on Turn 3

* 123 Fastest Laps Run, second most

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford)

* Two wins, three top fives, four top 10s

* Average finish of 10.4

* Average Running Position of 12.337, sixth best over last two years

* Fourth-highest Driver Rating of 104.6

* Fifth-fastest Speed in Turn 1

* Third-most Fastest Laps Run (119)

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)

* Four wins, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s; one pole

* Average finish of 13.345

* Ninth-best Driver Rating of 90.0

* 132 Quality Passes, third most

Dale Jarrett (No. 44 UPS Toyota)

* One win, 11 top fives, 18 top 10s; two poles

* Average finish of 13.947

* Driver Rating of 77.0 (13th-best)

* 243 Green Flag Passes, sixth best

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet)

* One win, six top fives, seven top 10s

* Average finish at Atlanta of 10.909

* Led in five races for 203 laps

* Second-best Driver Rating of 112.0

* Average Running Position of 6.305, second best

* Second Fastest Driver on the Backstretch

* Fastest Driver in Turn 2, third-fastest in Turn 3, second-fastest in Turn 4

* Fourth-highest number of Fastest Laps Run (96)

* Third-fastest Green Flag Speed

* 1,181 Laps in the Top 15, fourth most

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

* One win, four top fives; one pole

* Average finish of 14.4

* Seventh-highest Driver Rating at 92.1

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford)

* Four top fives, seven top 10s

* Average finish of 16.5

* Tenth-best Driver Rating of 89.7

* Sixth-Fastest Driver in Turn 3; fourth-Fastest in Turn 4

* Sixth-Fastest Green Flag Speed

Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge)

* Six wins, 12 top fives, 13 top 10s; two poles

* Average finish of 15.571

* Tied for fifth-best Closer – positions improved in the last 10% of laps in each race (He moved up nine spots)

Mark Martin (No. 01 U. S. Army Chevrolet)

* Two wins, 13 top fives and 21 top 10s; one pole

* Average finish of 16.190

* 924 laps laps led, fourth most among active drivers

* Third-best Average Running Position (7.382)

* Fifth-highest Driver Rating of 104.2

* Fastest Driver in Turn 4

* Second-Fastest Driver in Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3

* 1,256 Laps in the Top 15, most of any driver

* Most Quality Passes (148)

Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel Dodge)

* One top 5, four top 10s; six poles

* Average finish of 16.6

Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet)

* Two wins, six top fives and 10 top 10s

* Average finish of 12.125

* 669 laps led

* Third-highest Driver Rating of 106.5

* Fourth-best Average Running Position of 7.922

* Fourth-Fastest on Frontstretch; fifth-Fastest on Backstretch

* Fifth-most Fastest Laps Run (67)

* 1,187 Laps in the Top 15, third most

Season Nuggets

Mark Martin is the only driver to score a top-five finish in each of the first three races this season.

Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon are the only drivers to score top-10 finishes in each of the first three races this season.

Matt Kenseth leads all drivers with 20 bonus points.

Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin have led laps in all three races this year.

Atlanta Tidbits

There have been 95 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

There have been two races a year at Atlanta, except for 1961 which had a third event, the 250-mile Festival 250.

There has been one 250-mile event, one 300-mile event and six 400-mile events. The rest were all 500-mile races.

Richard Petty holds the record for most Atlanta starts with 65.

Kasey Kahne is the defending champion at the March 2006 race at Atlanta; Tony Stewart won the 2006 October race at Atlanta.

Dale Earnhardt had nine wins and 26 top-five finishes at Atlanta, most of any driver.

Buddy Baker holds the record for Budweiser Poles at Atlanta with seven.

Richard Petty has 33 top-10 finishes at Atlanta, most of any driver.

Cale Yarborough led 3,316 laps at Atlanta, most of any driver.

Ryan Newman leads all active drivers with six Budweiser Poles at Atlanta. All of his Budweiser Poles came in the six races between March 2003 and October 2005.

Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers with six Atlanta wins.

Baker posted three consecutive poles at Atlanta between the spring of 1979 and spring 1980 and is the only driver other than Newman to win more than two poles in a row there.

Atlanta has produced three of the 11 closest finishes since electronic scoring was introduced in May of 1993:

On 3/11/01, Kevin Harvick defeated Jeff Gordon by. 006 seconds – third closest

On 3/12/00, Dale Earnhardt defeated Bobby Labonte by. 010 seconds – fifth closest

On 3/20/05, Carl Edwards defeated Jimmie Johnson by. 028 seconds – tied for 11th closest

Atlanta is the third fastest track on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series circuit based on the qualifying lap of 197.478 mph by Geoffrey Bodine after the track re-configuration in 1997. Since that time the speeds on Atlanta have dropped slightly but the track remains one of the fastest on the circuit. In 2006, the qualifying speed at Atlanta was the second-fastest of the year with a lap of 192.553 posted by Kasey Kahne in the spring qualifying – lagging only the 196.235 mph turned by Brian Vickers at Texas Motor Speedway. Eight of the last 10 races at Atlanta have been won from a top-10 starting position (Last October’s winner, Tony Stewart, won from the 11th position).

Last year’s winner, Kasey Kahne, won the race from the Budweiser Pole. It was the 14th time that has happened at Atlanta.

Bobby Labonte won the 2001 NAPA 500 from the 39th starting position – the deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Atlanta.

The Wood Brothers lead all car owners, scoring 12 victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Cale Yarborough, 3; David Pearson, 3; Marvin Panch, 2; Neil Bonnett, 2; A. J. Foyt, 1; Morgan Shepherd, 1).

There have been eight different race winners in the last nine NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races at Atlanta.

Carl Edwards, who swept both races in 2005, is the only repeat winner there since 2002. Carl Edwards was just the sixth driver to sweep both races at Atlanta since the track opened in 1960.

There have been 12 back-to-back wins at Atlanta.

Three Atlanta races have been shortened by rain: 1962 Atlanta 500; 1982 Coca-Cola 500; 1998 Primestar 500.

Two Atlanta races have been completed on Monday: 1991 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 and 2005 Golden Corral 500.

Richard Petty leads the all-time list of top-10 finishes at Atlanta with 33 but finished on the lead lap there just 15 times. Dale Earnhardt is second on the all-time top-10 list with 30 and has 26 lead-lap finishes. Dale Jarrett has 18 top-10 finishes there and 18 lead-lap finishes.

Atlanta Streaks

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has three consecutive top-five finishes at Atlanta.

Carl Edwards has scored top-10 finishes in four of his five Atlanta races.

Jeff Gordon has three consecutive top-10 finishes at Atlanta.

Prior to last October’s 36th-place finish, Mark Martin has four consecutive top-5 finishes at Atlanta.

Tony Stewart has three consecutive top-10 finishes and has finished in the top 10 of the last 11 Atlanta races.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Data

Race #: 4 of 36 (3-18-07) Number of laps: 325

Track Size: 1.54 miles Length of Event: 500.5 miles

Banking is 24 degrees in the corners

Banking is five degrees on the straights

Frontstretch is 2,332 feet long

Backstretch is 1,800 feet long

Qualifying/Race Data

(Note: All records on the 1.54-mile configuration – since fall, 1997)

Last year’s pole winner: Kasey Kahne (192.533 mph, 28.792 seconds)

Last year’s race winner: Kasey Kahne (144.098 mph, 3 hours, 28 minutes, 24 seconds, 3-20-07)

Track qualifying record: Geoffrey Bodine (197.478 mph, 28.074 seconds, 11-15-97)

Track race record: Bobby Labonte (159.904 mph, 3 hours, 7 minutes, 48 seconds, 11-16-97)

Money

Purse: $4,957,097

NASCAR NEXTEL Leader Bonus: $40,000

Tire/Fuel Data

Goodyear Tire Codes: Left-side—D-4066; Right-side—D-4080

Other Nextel Cup Tracks At Which This Tire Combination Will Be Run: None

Estimated Pit Window: Every 48-52 laps, based on fuel mileage

History

Races won from the pole: 14 of 95 events (15%)

Races won from inside the top 10: 74 of 95 (78%)

Races won from outside the top 10: 21 of 95 (22%)

Fireball Roberts won the inaugural Budweiser Pole at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (July, 1960). Fireball Roberts won the inaugural NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Atlanta (July 31, 1960).

The track was re-measured to 1.522 miles in the spring of 1970 The track was re-configured in the fall of 1997 with the frontstretch and backstretch designations swapped and the track size increased from 1.522 to 1.54 miles.

Last Five Winners at Atlanta

2006 – Tony Stewart

2006 – Kasey Kahne

2005 – Carl Edwards

2005 – Carl Edwards

2004 – Jimmie Johnson

Margin of Victory – Last Five Races

2006 – 1.195 seconds

2006 – 1.928

2005 – 2.712

2005 – 0.028

2004 – 0.293

Active Drivers – Most Wins at Atlanta

Bobby Labonte – 6 Tony Stewart – 2

Bill Elliott – 5 Carl Edwards – 2

Jeff Gordon – 4 Mark Martin – 2

Active Drivers – Most Poles at Atlanta

Ryan Newman – 6 Bobby Labonte – 2

Bill Elliott – 5 Dale Jarrett – 2

Active Drivers – Most Laps Led at This Track

Bill Elliott – 1,024 Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 570

Jeff Gordon – 1,020 Dale Jarrett – 432

Bobby Labonte – 957 Mike Skinner – 289

Mark Martin – 924 Greg Biffle – 286

Tony Stewart – 669 Jimmie Johnson – 203