StatChat - NASCAR Cup Series @ New Hampshire

This weekend’s race will take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, located in Loudon, New Hampshire.  It is also sometimes known as “The Magic Mile.”  It is a 1.058-mile oval speedway.  It opened in 1990, and the first Cup Series race was in 1993, won by Rusty Wallace.

 

Sunday’s race is set to be 301 laps (318.46 miles), with stage breaks at 75 – 185 – 301 with a competition caution at lap 30.  The fuel window is approximately 87-94 laps.

 

NASCAR has run 7,515.97 miles so far this year.  Austin Dillon has completed 99.91% of them, the most of any driver.

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at New Hampshire:

Denny Hamlin

9.59 over 27 races

Brad Keselowski

10.50 over 20 races

Martin Truex Jr.

11.96 over 27 races

William Byron

12.33 over 3 races

Kevin Harvick

12.59 over 37 races

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at New Hampshire:

Timmy Hill

36.50 over 6 races

BJ McLeod

34.00 over 2 races

Michael McDowell

33.11 over 18 races

Corey LaJoie

30.67 over 6 races

Ross Chastain

25.00 over 2 races

 

New Hampshire, at just over 1 mile, is being classified here as a Short Track:

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:

Denny Hamlin

11.62 over 150 races

Kyle Busch

11.77 over 156 races

Chase Elliott

12.52 over 52 races

Brad Keselowski

12.66 over 113 races

Joey Logano

13.08 over 121 races

 

Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick have both each won 4 times at New Hampshire, the most of any driver.  Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Newman all each have 3 wins.

 

Notable drivers who have not won at New Hampshire:

Martin Truex Jr.

(has won at 15 other tracks)

Chase Elliott

(has won at 11 other tracks)

Kyle Larson

(has won at 11 other tracks)

Alex Bowman

(has won at 5 other tracks)

Ryan Blaney

(has won at 4 other tracks)

 

Two current drivers have scored their first career win at New Hampshire.  Joey Logano in his 21st start, and Ryan Newman in his 35th start.

 

No drivers list New Hampshire as either their BEST track or their WORST track. 

 

Milestone Watch!

Ross Chastain

This will be his 100th Cup Series Start

Chris Buescher

Currently has 24 Career Top 10s

 

 

 

 

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at who’s having a better year than last year.

 

Drivers Faring Better than in 2020

William Byron

+351 pts

Daniel Suarez

+305 pts

Kyle Busch

+186 pts

Michael McDowell

+156 pts

Chris Buescher

+135 pts

 

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2020

Aric Almirola

-430 pts

Kevin Harvick

-336 pts

Erik Jones

-281 pts

Matt DiBenedetto

-182 pts

Brad Keselowski

-171 pts

 

While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2020, 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

Denny Hamlin

8.57

Kyle Larson

10.43

William Byron

11.48

Austin Dillon

13.19

Ryan Blaney

13.48

Alex Bowman

14.19

Chris Buescher

16.81

Michael McDowell

17.90

Bubba Wallace

19.76

Ryan Preece

22.10

Corey LaJoie

25.52

 

Drivers Having their WORST Career Year

Quin Houff

32.90

Ryan Newman

21.71

Erik Jones

21.05

 

In 2017, NASCAR introduced the concept of Stage Racing, which pauses the race at certain intervals and awards bonus points for the top 10 at that moment.  Here are the Top-5 Stage Point earners so far this year:

 

Stage Point Leaders:

Denny Hamlin

239 pts

Kyle Larson

233 pts

William Byron

176 pts

Kyle Busch

160 pts

Chase Elliott

155 pts

 

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

Chevrolet

782

Toyota

722

Ford

718

 

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

 

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick

765

Joe Gibbs

720

Penske

673

Stewart-Haas

612

Richard Childress

560

Chip Ganassi

531

JTG-Daugherty

482

Roush-Fenway

457

Front Row

412

Wood Brothers

397

23XI

365

Trackhouse

361

Richard Petty

338

Spire

296

Rick Ware

191

Live Fast

137

StarCom

94

 

 

 

The race is Sunday, July 18th at 3:00pm EST (12:00pm PST) – Enjoy the races everyone!

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @StatChat_RR

Or you can email directly: acarabine@racingrefresh.com

Get all your StatChat Merch from the Racing Refresh online store!

 

Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

 

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