NASCAR Talladega Sunday, October 7, 2018

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES TALLADEGA STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most Talladega wins (Active): 5 Brad Keselowski
• Most Talladega top 5 finishes (Active): 8 Kurt Busch & Jamie McMurray
• Most Talladega top 10 finishes (Active): 19 Kurt Busch
• Most Talladega DNFs (Active): 13 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most Talladega Playoff race wins: 2 Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano & Jamie McMurray
• Most Talladega Playoff race 2nd-place finishes: 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick & Kasey Kahne
• Most Talladega Playoff race top 5 finishes: 5 Joey Logano
• Most Talladega Playoff race top 10 finishes: 7 Kurt Busch & Brad Keselowski
• ON THIS DATE!
• 10/14/17 Parker Kligerman won Talladega NCWTS race
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won pole for 2017 Talladega Playoff race
• 3 Restrictor-plate races this season won by drivers 27-years-old or younger
• Austin Dillon 27 (Daytona 500), Joey Logano 27 (Talladega April) & Erik Jones 22 (Daytona July)
• Team Penske won 8 of last 16 restrictor-plate races including 5 of last 10 – Brad Keselowski 4 & Joey Logano 4
• Brad Keselowski won 4 of last 16 restrictor-plate races (3 Wins last 10 restrictor-plate races)
• Brad Keselowski failed to finish all 3 restrictor-plate races this season – All due to crashes
• Ford won 8 of last 10 restrictor-plate races – Austin Dillon won 2018 Daytona 500 in Chevrolet & Erik Jones won Daytona 7/18 in Toyota
• Last Talladega winner in Chevrolet: Dale Earnhardt Jr. May 3, 2015 – Ford won 6 straight since
• Toyota won only 3 Talladega races – Most recent: May 4, 2014 (Denny Hamlin)
• 46 Different winners in 98 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Talladega races
• 10 Different winners 14 Talladega Playoff races
• Only win of season for 6 of 14 Talladega Playoff race winners – Jamie McMurray twice (2009 & ’13)
• Champion finished 23rd in Talladega Playoff race last 2 years – Jimmie Johnson (2016) & Martin Truex Jr. (2017)
• No driver won Talladega Playoff race & championship in same season
• 9 of 14 Playoff champions finished 9th or better in Talladega Playoff race
• Non-Playoff driver won 5 of 14 Talladega Playoff races
• Best non-Playoff driver finished 6th or better all 14 Talladega Playoff races
• Jamie McMurray won twice as non-Playoff driver
• Ryan Newman best non-Playoff finisher last Talladega Playoff race – Finished 2nd
• 8 of 14 Talladega Playoff races settled by last lap pass including 5 of last 8
• Clint Bowyer won 2 Talladega Playoff races – Both by last lap pass
• Brad Keselowski won 2 Talladega Playoff races – Both by last lap pass (Passed Ryan Newman both times)
• Kevin Harvick passed for final lead change 2 Talladega Playoff races
• Kyle Busch passed for final lead change 2 of last 5 Talladega Playoff races
• Only 14 running at finish last Talladega Playoff race – 13 Finished on lead lap
• 11 Cautions last Talladega Playoff race – Most all-time
• 7 Talladega Playoff races ended under caution including 3 of last 6
• Team Penske won last 4 Talladega Playoff races – Brad Keselowski 2 & Joey Logano 2
• 11 Won first career race at Talladega – Only win for 6 drivers
• Joey Logano won 3 of last 6 Talladega races – Won 2 of last 3 Talladega Playoff races
• Brad Keselowski won 3 of last 8 Talladega races
• Team Penske won 5 of last 6 Talladega races – 6 Wins last 8 races
• Ford won last 6 Talladega races
• 12 Speeding penalties by 9 drivers last Talladega race: 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 last Talladega race – Finished 14th
• 6 Started rear of field last Talladega race – 4 Finished top 10
• (Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman & Daniel Suarez)
• Daniel Suarez finished 10th last Talladega race after starting rear of field & pit road speeding penalty
• Best free-pass finisher last Talladega race: David Ragan – Finished 6th
• Kurt Busch finished 2nd at Talladega April –
• Radio issue on grid, started 2nd, lap 13 pit road speeding penalty, finished 25th Stage 1, 8th Stage 2 & 5 laps led
• Jamie McMurray finished 28th at Talladega April – Practice flip & lap 72 involved in crash (Running at finish)
• 6 Won pole in first try at Talladega
• 6 Won first career pole at Talladega
• 6 Different pole winners last 6 Talladega races
• Only 1 of last 22 Talladega races won from first starting position – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 5/17
• 14 of 98 Talladega races won from first starting position (14%)
• Driver starting first failed to finish 26 of 98 Talladega races (27%)
• Drivers starting first failed to finish more Talladega races than they won
• 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
• Dale Earnhardt last career win: Talladega 10/15/00
• Michael Waltrip last career win: Talladega 9/28/03
• Dale Jarrett last career win: Talladega 10/2/05
• 2 Failed to defend previous Talladega win – Dale Earnhardt 10/00 winner & Brian Vickers 10/06 winner
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. tied record for consecutive superspeedway wins at 1 track with 4 (10/01, 4/02, 10/02 & 4/03)
• Last to win consecutive Talladega races: Jeff Gordon 4/07 & 10/07 (Joey Logano won last Talladega race)
• 10 Talladega wins streaks – Drivers winning consecutive races
• 7 Talladega season sweeps – Last: 2007 Jeff Gordon (Joey Logano won in April)
• Last back-to-back fall wins – Joey Logano 2015 & ’16 (Brad Keselowski won last fall race)
• 2 Swept both Talladega races & championship in same season – Darrell Waltrip 1982 & Dale Earnhardt 1990
• 25 Talladega races settled by last lap pass (26%)
• 9 of last 17 Talladega races settled by last lap pass (53%)
• 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
• Drivers won first race of season at Talladega 43 times
• 13 Talladega Overtime finishes – 7 in last 13 races
• Leader at scheduled distance failed to win 6 of last 8 Talladega Overtime races
• Matt Kenseth lost 3 Talladega races after leading at scheduled distance
• 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
• Most laps led by Talladega winner: 153 – Pete Hamilton 8/70
• Fewest laps led by Talladega winner: 1 – Jeff Gordon 10/07 & Brad Keselowski 4/09
• 8 Talladega crashes involved 20 or more
• 14 Involved in lap 166 crash in April
• 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
• Joey Logano led 70 laps last Talladega race including final 42 (Led final 45 laps 10/16)
• Kyle Busch passed for final lead change 2 of last 4 Talladega races
• Driver starting 1st led first Talladega lap in only 40 of 98 races (41%)
• Pole failed to lead 1st lap in 58 of 98 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 14 of last 17 Talladega races
• Pole failed to lead first lap 10 of last 18 Talladega races
• Pole failed to lead any laps in 14 of 98 Talladega races
• Richard Childress Racing: 100th win – Talladega 10/23/11 (Clint Bowyer)