NASCAR Information Monday, September 18, 2017

2017 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most wins this season: 5 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most 2nd-place finishes this season: 7 Kyle Larson (4 Wins)
• Most top 3 finishes this season: 11 Kyle Larson
• Most top 5 finishes this season: 12 Denny Hamlin (12 All of last season) & Kyle Larson (Career-high)
• Most top 10 finishes this season: 18 Martin Truex Jr. (17 All of last season)
• Most poles this season: 7 Kyle Busch
• Most front-row starts this season: 8 Kyle Busch & Martin Truex Jr.
• Most top 6 starts this season: 19 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most top 12 starts this season: 24 Jamie McMurray
• Best average start this season: 6.8 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most laps led this season: 1723 Martin Truex Jr. (86 From career-high of 1809 in 2016)
• Most laps led by winless drivers this season: 323 Matt Kenseth
• Most races led this season: 22 Kyle Busch
• 14 Different winners in 27 races this season
• Martin Truex Jr. (5 Wins) & Kyle Larson (4 Wins) lead all in wins this season – Neither have won a championship
• Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Straight Chicagoland wins – Free pass in 2016 & Speeding penalty in 2017
• Martin Truex Jr.: 5 Wins this season – Career-high
• Martin Truex Jr.: 3 Wins last 10 races – Leads all drivers
• Martin Truex Jr. started 3rd or better all 5 wins this season
• Martin Truex Jr. led with 10 to go 4 of last 5 races – 1 Win (Chicagoland)
• Chase Elliott: 4 Career 2nd-place finishes (Winless) – Bill Elliott finished 2nd in 8 races before first win
• Kevin Harvick: 1 Top 5 finish last 6 races – Finished 3rd at Chicagoland
• Denny Hamlin: 4 Straight top 5 finishes – Ties career-long streak (2008)
• Brad Keselowski: 1 Top 10 finish last 6 races – Finished 6th at Chicagoland
• Joey Logano: 2 Straight top 10 finishes – First back-to-back top 10 finishes since April
• Jimmie Johnson: No top 5 finishes last 14 races – Career-longest streak
• Jimmie Johnson: Finished 8th last 2 races – First back-to-back top 10 finishes since April
• Jamie McMurray: 14 Top 10 finishes this season – Most top 10 finishes in last 13 seasons (2nd most in a season)
• Kyle Busch: 10 Straight races led (688 Laps led) – Ties career-long streak (2015)
• Kyle Busch: 6 Top 10 finishes last 7 races – Finished 15th at Chicagoland
• Kurt Busch: 3 Top 5 finishes last 4 races – Finished 19th at Chicagoland
• Ryan Newman: 4 Top 10 finishes last 5 races – Finished 23rd at Chicagoland
• Erik Jones: 6 Top 10 finishes last 7 races – Finished 33rd at Chicagoland
• Best Playoff finisher last race: Martin Truex Jr. – Winner
• Worst Playoff finisher last race: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 25th
• Best non-Playoff finisher last race: Joey Logano – 7th
• Martin Truex Jr. only driver to sweep every Stage in MENCS race – 2017 Las Vegas & 2017 Kentucky
• Kyle Busch: 6 Stage 1 wins last 8 races
• Martin Truex Jr.: 3 Stage 2 wins last 5 races
• Stage 1 winner went on to win race 5 times
• Stage 2 winner went on to win race twice – Martin Truex Jr. Las Vegas & Kentucky
• Jimmie Johnson: 3 Wins this season – 1 Stage win (Sonoma Stage 1)
• Kyle Busch: 12 Stage wins this season (2nd-most) – 2 Wins this season (Pocono July & Bristol Aug.)
• 8 Won Stage 1 & Stage 2 – Twice went on to win race (Martin Truex Jr. Las Vegas & Kentucky)
• 13 Drivers won Stages this season – 4 Have yet to win a race (Bowyer, Elliott, Kenseth & Suarez)
• Martin Truex Jr. leads all with 18 Stage wins – 5 Race wins
• Martin Truex Jr. won Stage 1 & 2 five times
• Last to win consecutive races: Jimmie Johnson (Texas 4/17 & Bristol 4/17)
• 4 Wins from pole this season – 3 By drivers named Kyle (Kyle Larson 2 & Kyle Busch 1)
• Joe Gibbs Racing: 4 Wins this season – 12 Wins all of last season (Led all teams)
• Denny Hamlin best Joe Gibbs Racing finisher last 3 races
• Chase Elliot best Hendrick Motorsports finisher 5 of last 7 races
• Kevin Harvick best Stewart-Haas Racing finisher at Chicagoland (3rd) – First time best SHR finisher last 6 races
• Top 6 Richmond finishers all from different teams – Ganassi, Penske, Childress, Stewart-Haas, Gibbs & Furniture Row
• Top 6 Chicagoland finishers all from different teams – Furniture Row, Hendrick, Stewart-Haas, Gibbs, Ganassi & Penske
• 3 Won first career race this season – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Talladega, Austin Dillon Charlotte & Ryan Blaney Pocono
• Jimmie Johnson: Last 5 top 5 finishes were all wins
• Jimmie Johnson: 5 Wins starting rear of field – 3 of last 4 wins came starting rear of field
• Jimmie Johnson started rear of field 6 races this season – Most of all drivers
• Best finisher dropping to rear of field this season:
• Winner – Jimmie Johnson (Texas April & Dover June) & Joey Logano (Richmond April)
• Last winner in backup car: Denny Hamlin – New Hampshire 7/17
• 3 Won after pit road speeding penalty this season:
• Kurt Busch Daytona 500, Brad Keselowski Martinsville April & Martin Truex Jr. Chicagoland
• 8 Speeding penalties by 7 drivers at Chicagoland – Martin Truex Jr. winner
• No pit road speeding penalties at Indianapolis, Watkins Glen & Darlington
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 7 Pit road speeding penalties this season – Most
• Martin Truex Jr. led at mid-race 8 times this season – Failed to win 5
• Martin Truex Jr. passed for final lead change 3 of last 5 races – 2 To go at Michigan, 3 to go at Darlington & 5 to go at Richmond
• Kyle Larson passed Martin Truex Jr. for final lead change last 2 wins – Michigan Aug. & Richmond Sept.
• Kyle Larson took lead for final time with 6 or fewer laps to go in 3 of 4 wins this season – 5 of fewer last 2 wins
• Kyle Busch passed for final lead change 5 races this season
• Kyle Larson passed for final lead change 4 races this season
• Brad Keselowski passed for final lead change 3 races this season
• Kyle Busch led most laps 7 races this season – 1 Win in those races (Pocono July)
• Kyle Busch failed to win 7 of last 8 races after leading most laps
• Jimmie Johnson led 18 or fewer laps 3 of last 4 wins
• Final lead change with 5 or fewer laps to go 4 of last 6 races
• Final lead change with 10 or fewer laps to go 15 of 27 races this season
• Leader of most laps won only 8 of 27 races this season – Truex Jr. 4, Larson 2, Kyle Busch 1 & Hamlin 1
• 10 To go leader failed to win 13 races this season – Martin Truex Jr. leading with 10 to go last 3 times
• 2 Races settled by last lap pass this season – Daytona 500 & Talladega May
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took lead for last time on final lap at Talladega May & with 2 laps to go at Daytona July
• Chase Elliott best Chevrolet finisher 3 races this season including Chicagoland
• Kevin Harvick best Ford finisher at Chicagoland – First time best Ford finisher last 6 races
• Martin Truex Jr. best Toyota finisher 9 races this season
• 3 of last 4 Chevrolet wins by Kyle Larson
• Ford: 8 Wins in 27 races this season (Winless last 10 races) – 8 Wins all of last season
• Toyota: 7 Wins last 10 races – Only 2 wins previous 17 races this season
• Joe Gibbs Racing: 4 Wins last 9 races – Winless previous 20 races
• Daniel Suarez best Rookie finisher at Chicagoland – First time best Rookie finisher last 5 races
• Last Rookie of the Year contender to win: Chris Buescher – Pocono 8/16
• Last previous Rookie of the Year contender to win: Joey Logano – New Hampshire 6/09
• 9 Overtime races this season – Leader at scheduled distance won 5
• Kyle Larson: 4 Wins this season – 3 Overtime wins (Auto Club, Michigan Aug. & Richmond Sept.)
• Youngest winner: Ryan Blaney – 23
• 18 Wins this season by drivers 32-years-old or older
• Closest margin-of-victory this season: .095 Seconds – Talladega May (Ricky Stenhouse Jr. over Jamie McMurray)
• Largest margin-of-victory this season: 7.179 Seconds – Chicagoland (Martin Truex Jr. over Chase Elliott
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won 2 of the 3 closest races this season – Talladega May & Daytona July
• 5 of last 15 races ended under caution this season
• 9 Different teams won this season
• 4 Crew chiefs won first race this season: Justin Alexander, Jeremy Bullins, Luke Lambert & Keith Rodden
• Chad Johnston: 6 Career wins (1 Martin Truex Jr. & 5 Kyle Larson)
• 6 Winning crew chiefs were suspended this season –
• Paul Wolfe, Rodney Childers, Todd Gordon, Adam Stevens, Chad Johnston & Mike Wheeler
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ended 157-race winless streak this season (Talladega May)
• Austin Dillon ended 132-race winless streak this season (Charlotte May)
• Ryan Newman ended 127-race winless streak this season (Phoenix March)
• Kasey Kahne ended 102-race winless streak this season (Indianapolis July)
• Kyle Busch ended 36-race winless streak this season (Pocono July)
• Roush Fenway Racing ended 101-race winless streak at Talladega May
• Richard Childress Racing ended 112-race winless streak at Phoenix March

2017 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most wins this season: 5 Kyle Busch
• Most 2nd-place finishes this season: 5 Ryan Blaney (1 Win)
• Most top 3 finishes this season: 7 Kyle Busch & Kyle Larson
• Most top 5 finishes this season: 11 Elliott Sadler (Winless)
• Most top 10 finishes this season: 19 Elliott Sadler
• Best average finish this season (Drivers competing every race): 9.5 Elliott Sadler
• Most laps led this season: 731 Kyle Busch
• Most races led this season: 12 Justin Allgaier
• Most poles this season: 7 Kyle Busch
• Most top 6 starts this season: 13 William Byron
• Most top 12 starts this season: 22 Daniel Hemric
• Most lead lap finishes this season: 21 William Byron
• 14 Different winners in 26 races this season
• 5 Different winners in 6 races on 1.5-mile tracks this season – 3 Joe Gibbs Racing, 2 Team Penske & 1 JR Motorsports
• Justin Allgaier best full time NXS driver 6 races this season
• 21 Won Stages this season – 11 Winless in races
• Brad Keselowski leads all with 8 Stage wins – 2 Wins (Pocono & Richmond Sept.)
• Justin Allgaier & Elliott Sadler lead full time NXS drivers with 5 Stage wins each
• 7 Won Stage 1 & went on to win race this season
• 5 Won Stage 2 & went on to win race
• Brad Keselowski (Pocono June) & Kyle Busch (Bristol Aug.) only drivers to win both Stages & race
• 8 Winners from pole this season – Kyle Busch 4, Denny Hamlin 1, Sam Hornish Jr. 1, Kyle Larson 1 & Ryan Preece 1
• 6 of last 11 races won from pole – Kentucky, New Hampshire, Iowa, Mid-Ohio, Bristol Aug. & Darlington
• 8 Won first pole this season – Bell, Benjamin, Byron, Hemric, B. Jones, Koch, Poole & Preece
• 2 Winners from rear of field this season: Ryan Blaney (Charlotte May) & William Byron (Daytona June)
• 4 Playoff drivers had pit road speeding penalties at Chicagoland – Annett, Koch, Poole & Tifft
• 3 Won back-to-back races this season – Erik Jones, William Byron & Kyle Busch
• #22 passed for final lead change 5 races this season – Daytona Feb., Auto Club, Bristol April, Daytona June & Darlington
• Final lead change with 10 or fewer laps to go 10 races this season
• 2 Races settled by last lap pass this season – Pocono & Michigan
• Justin Allgaier best Chevrolet finisher 4 races this season
• Cole Custer best Ford finisher 3 of last 8 races
• Matt Tifft best Toyota finisher 4 of last 9 races
• #22 Best Ford finisher 16 of 26 races this season – 3 Wins (Pocono, Mid-Ohio & Richmond Sept.)
• #18 Best Toyota finisher 11 of 26 races this season – 6 Wins
• 5 Overtime races this season – Daytona Feb., Richmond April, Daytona June, Iowa July & Darlington
• Daniel Hemric best Rookie of the Year contender 4 of last 6 races
• 1 Rookie of the Year contender won this season – William Byron at Iowa June, Daytona June & Indianapolis
• Youngest winner: William Byron – 19
• Oldest winner: Sam Hornish Jr. – 38
• #18 won 6 races this season – Kyle Busch (5) & Denny Hamlin (1)
• #20 won 4 races this season – Erik Jones (2), Denny Hamlin 1 & Ryan Preece (1)
• Joe Gibbs Racing won 6 of last 11 races
• Closest margin-of-victory this season: Michigan .012 seconds (Denny Hamlin over William Byron)