StatChat - NASCAR Cup Series @ Richmond 2

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This Saturday, the Cup Series returns to Virginia for the second visit to Richmond Raceway this season.  First opened in 1946, it is a 0.75-mile D-shaped asphalt oval.  NASCAR began racing at Richmond in 1953, and has been regularly hosting 2 races a year since 1959.

 

This weekend’s race is the “Federated Auto Parts Salute to American Heroes 400,” and is set to be 400 laps (300 miles). Stage breaks will occur at 80 – 235 – 400, with a competition caution at lap 30.  The fuel window is approximately 120-130 laps, though teams may want to pit sooner for fresher tires.

 

NASCAR has run 9,592.35 miles so far this year.  Denny Hamlin has completed 99.90% of them, the most of any driver.

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Richmond:

Kyle Busch

6.81 over 31 races

Denny Hamlin

9.00 over 29 races

Christopher Bell

9.50 over 2 races

Kevin Harvick

10.10 over 40 races

Joey Logano

10.46 over 24 races

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Richmond:

Quin Houff

33.75 over 4 races

Michael McDowell

31.90 over 20 races

Ross Chastain

28.40 over 5 races

Corey LaJoie

28.00 over 7 races

Chris Buescher

26.50 over 10 races

 

 

Richmond is a Short Track

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:

Denny Hamlin

11.62 over 151 races

Kyle Busch

11.90 over 157 races

Chase Elliott

12.56 over 53 races

Brad Keselowski

12.60 over 114 races

Joey Logano

13.00 over 122 races

 

Richard Petty is the winningest driver at Richmond, by quite a margin.  He has won 13 races at Richmond.  The next best driver is Bobby Allison who has 7 wins.  For current drivers, Kyle Busch has the most with 6, followed by Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin who each have 3.

 

Notable drivers who have not won at Richmond:

Chase Elliott

(has won at 11 other tracks)

Ryan Blaney

(has won at 6 other tracks)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No current drivers earned their first Cup Series win at Richmond.

 

No current drivers list Richmond as their BEST track.  Josh Bilicki lists it as his WORST, though he has only had one prior race there.

 

Milestone Watch!

Denny Hamlin

Currently has 298 Career Top 10s

Erik Jones

This will be his 174th Cup Series Start

Joey Logano

This will be his 25th Cup Series Start @ Richmond

 

 

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

Daniel Suarez

+264 pts

William Byron

+221 pts

Tyler Reddick

+208 pts

Christopher Bell

+153 pts

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

+133 pts

 

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2020

Aric Almirola

-349 pts

Kevin Harvick

-310 pts

Erik Jones

-256 pts

Brad Keselowski

-222 pts

Matt DiBenedetto

-134 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

8.78

Kyle Larson

9.44

Ryan Blaney

12.15

William Byron

13.85

Austin Dillon

14.93

Chris Buescher

17.59

Ross Chastain

18.07

Bubba Wallace

19.22

Michael McDowell

20.30

Ryan Preece

21.70

Corey LaJoie

24.30

 

 

 

Drivers Having their WORST Career Year

Ryan Newman

20.59

Erik Jones

20.59

 

 

 

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

300 pts

Kyle Larson

299 pts

Chase Elliott

203 pts

William Byron

198 pts

Kyle Busch

189 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

995

Ford

934

Toyota

922

 

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

 

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick

963

Joe Gibbs

913

Penske

875

Stewart-Haas

785

Chip Ganassi

708

Richard Childress

694

JTG-Daugherty

631

Roush-Fenway

620

Wood Brothers

538

Front Row

488

23XI

483

Richard Petty

446

Trackhouse

442

Spire

417

Rick Ware

266

Live Fast

199

StarCom

131

 

 

 

The race is Saturday, September 11that 7:30pm EST (4:30pm PST) – Enjoy the races everyone!

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @StatChat_RR

Or you can email directly: acarabine@racingrefresh.com

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

 

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