StatChat - Nascar Cup Series @ Texas
As the 2020 NASCAR season winds down, the stakes have never been higher. With Joey Logano’s spot in the Final 4 being the only guarantee, the remaining seven playoff drivers hope they can make their mark at Texas this weekend. But what does Texas have in store for them? Let’s take a closer look:
Texas is a 1.5 mile quad-oval, and this weekend’s race will be called the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. While NASCAR has been racing in Texas for many years, the track they will visit on Sunday was built in 1996, and began hosting the Cup Series a year later.
The race will be 334 laps long (for a total of 501 miles), and just as it was in July, stage breaks will occur at 105 – 210 – 334. The fuel window is approximately 60-63 laps.
This year, the Cup Series has raced a total of 12,437.83 miles.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Texas:
| Erik Jones | 9.00 over 8 races |
| Matt Kenseth | 9.74 over 31 races |
| Kevin Harvick | 10.23 over 35 races |
| Jimmie Johnson | 10.85 over 34 races |
| Chase Elliott | 11.11 over 9 races |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Texas:
| Joey Gase | 35.17 over 6 races |
| JJ Yeley | 33.61 over 18 races |
| Quin Houff | 33.50 over 2 races |
| Corey LaJoie | 32.17 over 6 races |
| Michael McDowell | 30.62 over 21 races |
Since Texas Motor Speedway is 1.5 miles long, it is classified as an intermediate track. An intermediate track is seen as anything between 1 and 2 miles in length.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks
| Kevin Harvick | 11.72 over 358 races |
| Brad Keselowski | 12.63 over 210 races |
| Jimmie Johnson | 12.81 over 343 races |
| Kyle Busch | 12.83 over 289 races |
| Matt Kenseth | 12.84 over 346 races |
Jimmie Johnson is by far and away the winningest driver at Texas, as he holds 7 wins at this track. Carl Edwards is a distant 2ndwith 4 wins. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin each have 3 wins.
Notable drivers who have not won at Texas:
| Brad Keselowski | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
| Martin Truex Jr. | (has won at 14 other tracks) |
| Clint Bowyer | (has won at 7 other tracks) |
| Chase Elliott | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick and Matt Kenseth both list Texas as their BEST track. Cole Custer is the only driver to list Texas as his WORST track. It’s important to note that both Reddick and Custer have only raced at Texas once in the Cup Series, where they finished P2 and P39, respectively.
Compared to last year, some drivers have seen a big change in their performance. Some changes may be performance-related, but it is also potentially a product of the driver joining a new team who may have more or less speed. This statistic is based on their current point pace.
Drivers Faring Better than in 2019
| Matt DiBenedetto | +205 pts |
| Chase Elliott | +178 pts |
| Kevin Harvick | +141 pts |
| Bubba Wallace | +132 pts |
| Austin Dillon | +130 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2019
| Daniel Suarez | -475 pts |
| Kyle Busch | -278 pts |
| Joey Logano | -94 pts |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -85 pts |
| William Byron | -75 pts |
While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2019, how does this year stack up against their entire career? This statistic does not include rookies, as this is their first full year in the Cup Series.
Drivers Having their BEST Career Year
| Kevin Harvick | 6.79 |
| Denny Hamlin | 9.42 |
| Matt DiBenedetto | 15.30 |
| Michael McDowell | 20.48 |
| Bubba Wallace | 20.76 |
| Corey LaJoie | 25.24 |
Drivers Having their WORST Career Year
| Daniel Suarez | 26.41 |
| Ryan Preece | 24.39 |
| Matt Kenseth | 20.90 |
For those that aren’t aware, the Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
| Ford | 1225 |
| Toyota | 1157 |
| Chevrolet | 1120 |
If this same formula were used for each Team, you could determine which team has been the most successful this season. For some reason NASCAR does not calculate or showcase these stats, but here they are regardless:
Chartered Team Standings
| Joe Gibbs | 1159 |
| Penske | 1097 |
| Stewart-Haas | 1093 |
| Hendrick | 1049 |
| Chip Ganassi | 864 |
| Richard Childress | 845 |
| Wood Brothers | 716 |
| Roush-Fenway | 715 |
| Front Row | 667 |
| JTG-Daugherty | 612 |
| Richard Petty | 542 |
| Leavine Family | 535 |
| Germain | 493 |
| Go Fas | 392 |
| Rick Ware | 297 |
| Spire | 228 |
| StarCom | 205 |
The race begins Sunday, October 25that 3:30pm EST/12:30pm PST.
Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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