NASCAR Talladega Sunday, April 14, 2019

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES TALLADEGA STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Active drivers at Talladega
• Most Talladega wins: 5 Brad Keselowski
• Most Talladega top 3 finishes: 6 Clint Bowyer
• Most Talladega top 5 finishes: 8 Kurt Busch (Winless)
• Most Talladega top 10 finishes: 19 Kurt Busch
• Best Talladega average finish: 10.6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Most Talladega laps led: 470 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Talladega DNFs: 13 Martin Truex Jr.
• 100th Talladega Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race
• 47 Different winners in 99 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Talladega races
• Closest finish last season: Talladega 10/18 – .105 Seconds Aric Almirola over Clint Bowyer
• 14 Failed to finish Talladega 4/18 & only 1 failed to finish Talladega 10/18 (J.J. Yeley)
• Talladega 4/18: First stage caution-free, 1 caution during stage 2, 3 cautions in final stage
• Talladega 10/18 manufacturers laps led – Ford: 184 (155 by Stewart-Haas Racing), Chevrolet 8, Toyota 1 (Kyle Busch)
• Ford led 489 miles in 2018 Talladega Playoff race
• 2018 Talladega manufacturers laps led – Ford 310, Chevrolet 58 & Toyota 12
• Joey Logano won 3 of last 7 Talladega races – Talladega 4/18 win ended 36-race winless streak
• Talladega 4/18: “We’re back!” – First win of championship season
• Joey Logano led most laps 2 of last 3 Talladega races – No laps led in 2018 Playoff race
• Brad Keselowski won 3 of last 9 Talladega races
• Kyle Busch: 1 Talladega win (4/08) – 48 Wins since (Winless last 20 Talladega races)
• April 2018: “It’s easier to win the Powerball than to win at Talladega”
• Kevin Harvick: 1 Talladega win (4/10 – #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) – 33 Wins since (Winless last 17 Talladega races)
• Jimmie Johnson: Talladega 4/11 winner – 29 Wins since last Talladega win (Winless last 15 Talladega races)
• Stewart-Haas Racing finished top 2 in 2018 Talladega Playoff race – Aric Almirola winner & Clint Bowyer 2nd
• *First Talladega win for Stewart-Haas Racing
• 2 Finished top 5 both Talladega races last season – Joey Logano & Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• 3 Finished top 10 both Talladega races last season (Ford drivers) – Aric Almirola, Joey Logano & Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Aric Almirola ended career-long 149-race winless streak in 2018 Talladega Playoff race (2nd career win came 1561 days after 1st)
• Aric Almirola finished 8th or better last 5 Talladega races – 2018 Talladega Playoff race winner (Only final lap led)
• Brad Keselowski: 6 Straight Talladega races led – 216 Laps led
• Joey Logano: 3 Straight Talladega top 5 finishes – 1 Win (4/18)
• Jimmie Johnson finished 7th in 2018 Talladega Playoff race – Teammates finished 20th or worse
• Kurt Busch led most laps at Talladega last season – 113 Total laps (5 in April & 108 in Oct.)
• Kurt Busch: 266 Talladega laps led – 108 Laps led in 2018 Playoff race (41%)
• Chase Elliott started 8th or better all 6 Talladega races (Avg. start: 4.2) – Finished outside top 10 in 4 races (Avg. finish: 16.2)
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 3 Top 5 finishes last season – Finished top 5 in both Talladega races
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 4 Top 5 finishes last 5 Talladega races
• Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Talladega top 5 finishes – 13 Talladega DNFs
• Martin Truex Jr.: Failed to finish 13 of 28 Talladega races (46%) – Crashed out 3 of last 4 Talladega races
• Only 1 won a Stage & Talladega race – Brad Keselowski Stage 1 10/17
• First win of season both Talladega winners last season – Joey Logano (April) & Aric Almirola (Oct.)
• Drivers won first race of season at Talladega 44 times
• First win of season for 9 of last 10 Talladega spring winners
• 2018 champion Joey Logano first win of season: Talladega April
• Joey Logano led 70 laps Talladega 4/18 including final 42 (Led final 45 laps 10/16)
• 12 Speeding penalties by 9 drivers Talladega 4/18: Kurt Busch (2nd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5th), David Ragan (6th),
• Alex Bowman (8th), Daniel Suarez (10th), Kyle Busch (13th), Denny Hamlin (14th), Martin Truex Jr. (26th) &
• Brad Keselowski (33rd)
• Denny Hamlin back-to-back speeding penalties Talladega 4/18 – Finished 14th
• 6 Started rear of field Talladega 4/18 – 4 Finished top 10 (Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman & Daniel Suarez)
• Daniel Suarez finished 10th Talladega 4/18 after starting rear of field & pit road speeding penalty
• Best free-pass finisher Talladega 4/18: David Ragan – Finished 6th
• 5 Speeding penalties by 3 drivers Talladega 10/18: Erik Jones (8th), David Ragan (39th) & Michael McDowell (40th)
• 3 Started rear of field Talladega 10/18 – Kyle Larson best finisher (11th)
• Brad Keselowski won Stage 1 in 3 of last 4 Talladega races – 1 Win
• Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Kurt Busch & Kevin Harvick won Stage 1 & 2 in 2018 Talladega Playoff race
• 26 Talladega races settled by last lap pass (26%)
• Brad Keselowski: 5 Talladega wins – 3 Wins by last lap pass (Most all-time)
• Brad Keselowski 3-0 in Talladega races settled by last lap pass – Most wins of all drivers
• Brad Keselowski passed Ryan Newman on final lap last 2 Talladega wins – 2014 Playoff race & 2017 Playoff race
• Fewest laps led by Talladega winner: 1 – Jeff Gordon 10/07, Brad Keselowski 4/09 & Aric Almirola 10/18
• 8 Talladega crashes involved 20 or more
• 14 Involved in lap 166 crash 4/18
• 14 Talladega Overtime finishes – 8 in last 14 races
• Leader at scheduled distance failed to win 7 of last 9 Talladega Overtime races
• 4 Won Talladega in first try – Donnie Allison, Richard Brickhouse, Pete Hamilton & Brad Keselowski
• Michael Waltrip won Talladega for first time in 36th try – Most of all drivers
• 7 Won Talladega for first time in 10th try
• Stewart-Haas Racing swept 2018 Talladega poles – Kevin Harvick (April) & Kurt Busch (Oct.)
• 7 Different pole winners last 7 Talladega races
• Only 1 of last 23 Talladega races won from first starting position – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5/17
• 14 of 99 Talladega races won from first starting position (14%)
• Driver starting first failed to finish 26 of 99 Talladega races (26%)
• Drivers starting first failed to finish more Talladega races than they won
• Team Penske won 5 of last 7 Talladega races – 6 Wins last 9 races
• Ford won last 7 Talladega races
• 6 Won pole in first try at Talladega
• Worst official starting position to win: 36th – Jeff Gordon 4/00
• 3 Won from 34th starting position including Denny Hamlin 5/14
• Brad Keselowski won 2 Talladega races after starting rear of field (4/09 & 10/14)
• *4/03 Dale Earnhardt Jr. won after taking green from 43rd starting position after starting from the rear of field
• *4/09 Brad Keselowski won after starting from the rear of the field
• *10/14 Brad Keselowski won after starting from the rear of the field
• 11 Won first career race at Talladega – Only win for 6 drivers
• Michael Waltrip last career win: Talladega 9/28/03
• Jamie McMurray last career win: Talladega 10/20/13
• Last to win consecutive Talladega races: Jeff Gordon 4/07 & 10/07 (Aric Almirola won last Talladega race)
• 10 Talladega wins streaks – Drivers winning consecutive races
• 7 Talladega season sweeps – Last: 2007 Jeff Gordon
• Last back-to-back spring wins – Jeff Gordon 2004 & ’05 (Joey Logano won last spring race)
• 2 Swept both Talladega races & championship in same season – Darrell Waltrip 1982 & Dale Earnhardt 1990
• Toyota won only 3 Talladega races – Winless last 9 races
• 1 Won Daytona 500 & both Talladega races in same year – Pete Hamilton 1970
• Most laps led by Talladega winner: 153 – Pete Hamilton 8/70
• Most laps led by Talladega spring race winner: 139 – Jeff Gordon 5/05
• Martin Truex Jr. only driver failing to finish both Talladega races & winning championship in same year (2017)
• David Pearson (1969) & Kyle Busch (5/13) – Only drivers to miss Talladega race & win championship in same year
• Driver starting 1st at Talladega led first lap in only 41 of 99 races (41%)
• Pole failed to lead 1st lap in 58 of 99 Talladega races (59%)
• Most consecutive laps led from start at Talladega: 50 – Ricky Rudd (7/26/92)
• Most consecutive laps led to end of Talladega: 71 – Davey Allison (5/3/92)
• Most laps led by Talladega non-winner: 142 – Matt Kenseth (5/5/13)
• Most consecutive Talladega laps led: 82 – Pete Hamilton (8/23/70)
• Leader of most laps failed to win 15 of last 18 Talladega races
• Pole failed to lead first lap 10 of last 19 Talladega races
• Pole failed to lead any laps in 14 of 99 Talladega races
• Richard Childress Racing: 100th win – Talladega 10/23/11 (Clint Bowyer)
• Only 3 top 5 finishes for Roush Fenway Racing this season – Bristol April, Talladega April & Talladega Oct.

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES TALLADEGA STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• 22 Different winners in 27 Talladega Xfinity Series races
• Spencer Gallagher led only final lap 2018 Talladega Xfinity Series race
• Tyler Reddick: Finished 8th at Talladega last year – Passed for lead on final lap
• Justin Allgaier: Finished 8th or better last 6 Talladega races – Finished 3rd last season
• Noah Gragson: Leader into final lap 2018 Talladega NGOTS race – Crashed & finished 13th
• Justin Haley: 2nd into final lap in 2018 Talladega NGOTS race – Briefly led final lap
• Only 4 won Talladega more than once – Martin Truex Jr. 3, Joey Logano 2, Joe Nemechek 2 & Elliott Sadler 2
• First Talladega win for 10 of last 12 winners
• 4 of last 6 Talladega winners eligible for championship points –
• Regan Smith (2013), Elliott Sadler (2014 & ‘16) & Spencer Gallagher (2018)
• Brad Keselowski 2010 & Martin Truex Jr. 2004 & ’05 only drivers to win Talladega & championship in same season
• 3 Won first career race at Talladega – Greg Sacks (1996), David Ragan (2009) & Spencer Gallagher (2018)
• 11 Talladega races settled by last lap pass including 8 of last 10
• 8 Talladega races had margin of victory of one tenth of a second or smaller
• 8 Talladega NXS races with 15 or more involved in a single crash
• Leader of most laps failed to win 8 of last 10 Talladega races
• 9 Talladega Overtime finishes
• Leader at scheduled distance failed to win last 8 Overtime Talladega races
• 2 Won Talladega in first try – Greg Sacks & Martin Truex Jr.
• Jason Keller won Talladega for first time in 10th try – Most of all drivers
• 6 Won Talladega in 3rd try
• 2 Talladega winners from pole – Joe Nemechek 1998 & Tony Stewart 2008
• Worst starting position of Talladega winner: 35th – Joe Nemechek 2000
• 8 Won first career pole at Talladega – 5 Won pole in first try
• Mid-race leader won 2 of 27 Talladega races – Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2003 & Joey Logano 2015
• Fewest laps led by winner – 1 David Ragan 2009, Elliott Sadler 2016 & Spencer Gallagher 2018
• Latest point winner took lead for first time – Final lap David Ragan 2009, Elliott Sadler 2016 & Spencer Gallagher 2018
• 1 Led most laps, but failed to finish – Michael Waltrip 1995 Crash
• Pole failed to finish 9 of last 24 Talladega races – 8 Due to crashes