NASCAR Information Sunday, March 19, 2023
NASCAR CUP SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS THIS SEASON
Atlanta
Joey Logano
Atlanta winner – Pole, Stage 1 winner & finished 2nd in Stage 2, 135 of first 159 laps led, 5 of final 101 laps led, took lead final lap
Winner pit stops: Joey Logano (4 Stops) 64, 132 (G), 164, 195
Stage 1 winner: Joey Logano 1st
Stage 2 winner: Austin Cindric 11th
Top 5 Stage 1 & 2: Joey Logano 1st & 2nd, Austin Cindric 2nd & 1st
Passed for final lead change: Brad Keselowski – Led 29 of final 30 laps
Winner final laps led: Joey Logano 1
Cautions: 5
Longest green run: 94 Laps (68-161)
Best free pass finisher: Ryan Blaney 7th
Best finisher with pit road speeding penalty: Ryan Blaney 7th
Best starting rear of field finisher: Christopher Bell 3rd
Best Hendrick: Alex Bowman 14th
Best Gibbs: Christopher Bell 3rd
Best Stewart-Haas: Chase Briscoe 24th
Best Penske: Joey Logano 1st
Joey Logano: Last 7 wins on 7 different tracks – Kansas, Bristol Dirt, Darlington, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Phoenix & Atlanta
Season
Most wins this season: 2 William Byron
Most top 5 finishes this season: 3 Christopher Bell
Most top 10 finishes this season: 4 Christopher Bell & Alex Bowman
Best average finish this season: 7.8 Alex Bowman
Most laps led this season: 270 Kyle Larson
Most races led this season: 5 Brad Keselowski
At Atlanta Aric Almirola passed 1000 career laps led
At Atlanta Brad Keselowski passed 9000 career laps led
Atlanta
Joey Logano won Atlanta for first time in 19th try – Dale Jarrett & Ricky Rudd also won in 19th try
7 Different winners last 7 Atlanta races – Keselowski, Harvick, Blaney, Kurt Busch, Byron, Elliott & Logano
Laps Led: Ford 221 (8 Drivers), Chevrolet 20 & Toyota 19
45º Coldest Atlanta since 11/16/97 (44º) – Bobby Labonte winner
Stage 1 winner won last 3 Atlanta races
Final lead change with 2 or fewer laps to go last 2 Atlanta races
Cautions last 3 Atlanta races: 11 (3/22), 13 (7/22) & 5 (3/23)
Driver starting first won last 2 Atlanta races – Driver starting first winless previous 22 Atlanta races
Ford: 6 Wins last 9 Atlanta races
Drivers won first race of season at Atlanta 48 times
10 To go leader failed to win last 3 Atlanta races
6 Atlanta races settled by last lap pass
Atlanta speeding penalties – 2015: 5 / 2016: 1 / 2017: 13 / 2018: 1 / 2019: 4 / 2020: 8 / 3/21: 6 / 7/21: 2 / 3/22: 6 / 7/22: 2 / 3/23: 2
22 Champions won at Atlanta
Road Course
First career win for 19 drivers came on a road course – 3 in 2022
Wet weather tires used 3 times –
2020 Charlotte Roval, 2021 Austin (Chase Elliott won both) & 2022 Watkins Glen (Kyle Larson)
Foreign-born winners: Marcos Ambrose, Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Earl Ross & Daniel Suárez
Christopher Bell:
3 Wins last season – 1 Road Course win (Charlotte Roval)
Finished 3rd at 2022 Austin – Started 7th, avg. running pos.: 17th, 4th caution free pass, no power steering
Ryan Blaney: Finished 6th at 2022 Austin – Pole, finished top 5 in Stage 1 & 2, 1 lap led, 47 points scored (most)
Alex Bowman: Finished 2nd at 2022 Austin – Started 5th, finished 3rd in Stage 1 & 24th in Stage 2, avg. running pos.: 9th
Chris Buescher:
7 Road course top 10 finishes – 5 Straight top 10 finishes
Average finish last season – Road courses: 9.0 / All others: 19.7
Kyle Busch:
1 Top 10 finish in 6 road course races last season (No laps led) – Finished 3rd at Charlotte Roval
Average finish last season – Road courses: 22.2 / All others: 15.6
William Byron:
1 Top 15 finish in 6 road course races last season – Finished 9th at Sonoma
746 Laps led last season – No road course laps led last season
Ross Chastain:
1 of 2 to finish top 5 both Austin races (Chase Elliott) – Finished 4th & 1st
35 Austin laps led – Most all-time
Denny Hamlin: Finished 13th or worse all 6 road course races last season (4 Laps led) – Avg. finish: 19th
Kyle Larson: 4 Wins last 11 road course races – 7 Top 3 finishes last 12 road course races
Joey Logano:
Finished 31st at 2022 Austin – Started 6th, finished 4th in Stage 1 & 3rd in Stage 2, 2 laps led, lap 44 spin, lap 66 off track
Michael McDowell: 7 Road course top 10 finishes – 4 Top 10 finishes last 5 races
Tyler Reddick: 2 Road course wins last season – Only driver with multiple wins
2 Wins last 4 road course races – 4 Straight top 10 finishes
Daniel Suárez: 5 Road course top 5 finishes – 3 Top 5 finishes last 5 races
Martin Truex Jr.: 1 Top 10 finish in 6 road course races last season (No laps led) – Finished 7th at 2022 Austin
Most road course top 5 finishes last season: 3 Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick & Daniel Suárez
Most road course top 10 finishes last season: 5 Chris Buescher & Tyler Reddick
2023
AJ Allmendinger: 400th NASCAR Cup Series race – 6 Won in 400th race (Earnhardt, Johnson, Marcis, Pearson, L. Petty & R. Petty)
4 Different winners in 5 races this season
Joey Logano: 2 Poles in 5 races this season
Stage 1 winner went on to win last 3 races
Ross Chastain (Winless) & William Byron (2 Wins) lead all with 3 Stage wins each this season
Leader of most laps failed to win 3 of 5 races this season
Final lead change with 2 or fewer laps to go last 3 races
Corey LaJoie best Chevrolet finisher at Atlanta – Finished 4th
3 of 5 races finished in Overtime this season – Leader at scheduled distance failed to win all 3
Closest margin-of-victory this season: .193 Seconds – Joey Logano over Brad Keselowski (Atlanta March)
Christopher Bell best Joe Gibbs Racing finisher 4 of 5 races this season
3 of 4 Joe Gibbs Racing drivers finished top 10 at Atlanta
All 4 Hendrick Motorsports drivers finished 14th or worse at Atlanta
All 4 Stewart-Haas Racing drivers finished 24th or worse at Atlanta
5 Different teams finished top 5 at Atlanta – Penske, RFK, Gibbs, Spire & 23XI
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS THIS SEASON
Season
Most wins this season: 3 Austin Hill
Most laps led this season: 187 Austin Hill
Most races led this season: 5 Austin Hill & John Hunter Nemechek
Atlanta
Austin Hill led 103 laps including final 64 winning Atlanta
Austin Hill only repeat winner last 8 Atlanta races (2 Wins) – 6 Others 1 win each
12 Failed to finish Atlanta (10 Due to crashes) – Season-high
11 Atlanta cautions – Most all-time
Closest Atlanta finish: .085 Seconds – Austin Hill over Daniel Hemric (3/18/23)
2023
3 Different winners in 5 races this season
Justin Allgaier (Winless) & Austin Hill (3 Wins) lead all with 3 Stage wins each this season
First career win for 1 this season – Sammy Smith (Phoenix March)
Final lead change with 2 or fewer laps to go 2 of 5 races this season
Austin Hill won 2 closest races this season – Atlanta March (.085 Seconds) & Las Vegas March (.268 Seconds)
Riley Herbst best Ford finisher all 5 races this season
Riley Herbst best Stewart-Haas Racing finisher all 5 races this season
Last Ford win: Cole Custer – Fontana 2/26/22
Youngest winner: Sammy Smith – 18
Oldest winner: Austin Hill – 28