NASCAR Information Sunday, September 24, 2017

2017 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most wins this season: 5 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most 2nd-place finishes this season: 8 Kyle Larson (4 Wins)
• Most top 3 finishes this season: 12 Kyle Larson
• Most top 5 finishes this season: 13 Kyle Larson (Career-high)
• Most top 10 finishes this season: 19 Martin Truex Jr. (17 All of last season)
• Most poles this season: 8 Kyle Busch (Career-high)
• Most front-row starts this season: 9 Kyle Busch
• Most top 6 starts this season: 20 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most top 12 starts this season: 25 Jamie McMurray
• Best average start this season: 6.7 Martin Truex Jr.
• Most laps led this season: 1835 Martin Truex Jr. (Career-high)
• Most laps led by winless drivers this season: 323 Matt Kenseth
• Most races led this season: 23 Kyle Busch

• 14 Different winners in 28 races this season
• Martin Truex Jr. (5 Wins) & Kyle Larson (4 Wins) lead all in wins this season – Neither have won a championship
• Kyle Busch: 3 Wins last 8 races – Winless previous 36 races
• Kyle Busch: 11 Straight races led (875 Laps led) – Career-long streak
• Kyle Busch: 41 Career wins – Winless in October
• Kyle Larson: 3 Straight top 5 finishes – Longest current streak
• Matt Kenseth: Best finish last 6 races: 3rd – New Hampshire
• Brad Keselowski: 1 Top 5 finish last 7 races – Finished 4th at New Hampshire
• Martin Truex Jr.: 4 Straight races led – 463 Laps led
• Martin Truex Jr.: Passed 6000 career laps led at New Hampshire last week
• Clint Bowyer: 1 Top 10 finish last 6 races – Finished 7th at New Hampshire
• Daniel Suarez: Finished 12th or better last 3 races – 2 Top 10 finishes
• Ryan Blaney: Best finish last 6 races – Finished 9th at New Hampshire
• Joey Logano: 3 Straight top 10 finishes – No top 10 finishes previous 5 races
• Chase Elliott: Finished 11th or better last 4 races – 2 Top 10 finishes
• Denny Hamlin: 4 Top 5 finishes last 5 races – Finished 12th at New Hampshire
• Jimmie Johnson: No top 5 finishes last 15 races (Last top 5: Dover June winner) – Career-longest streak
• Kevin Harvick: Worst finish last 25 races: 36th – New Hampshire Sept.
• Kurt Busch: Worst finish this season: 37th – Martinsville April, Dover June & New Hampshire Sept.
• Best Playoff finisher last race: Kyle Busch – Winner
• Worst Playoff finisher last race: Kurt Busch – 37th
• Best non-Playoff finisher last race: Erik Jones – 6th
• Stage 2 winner went on to win race 3 times – Martin Truex Jr. (Las Vegas & Kentucky) and Kyle Busch (New Hampshire Sept.)
• Kyle Busch: 13 Stage wins this season (2nd-most) – 3 Wins this season (Pocono July, Bristol Aug. & New Hampshire Sept.)
• 13 Drivers won Stages this season – 4 Have yet to win a race (Bowyer, Elliott, Kenseth & Suarez)
• Martin Truex Jr. leads all with 19 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)
• Martin Truex Jr. started 3rd or better all 5 wins this season
• 5 Wins from pole this season – 4 By drivers named Kyle (Kyle Busch 2 & Kyle Larson 2)
• Martin Truex Jr. passed for final lead change 4 of last 6 races
• 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 8 races this season – 2 Wins in those races (Pocono July & New Hampshire Sept.)
• Final lead change with 5 or fewer laps to go 4 of last 7 races
• Final lead change with 10 or fewer laps to go 15 of 28 races this season
• Leader of most laps won only 9 of 28 races this season – Truex Jr. 4, Kyle Busch 2, Larson 2 & Hamlin 1
• 10 To go leader failed to win 13 races this season – Martin Truex Jr. leading with 10 to go last 3 times
• Brad Keselowski best Ford finisher at New Hampshire – First time best Ford finisher last 8 races
• 3 of last 4 Chevrolet wins by Kyle Larson
• Ford: 8 Wins in 28 races this season (Winless last 11 races) – 8 Wins all of last season
• Toyota: 8 Wins last 11 races – Only 2 wins previous 17 races this season
• Joe Gibbs Racing: 5 Wins last 10 races – Winless previous 20 races
• Erik Jones best Rookie finisher 5 of last 6 races
• Kyle Larson: 4 Wins this season – 3 Overtime wins (Auto Club, Michigan Aug. & Richmond Sept.)
• Joe Gibbs Racing: 5 Wins this season – 12 Wins all of last season (Led all teams)
• Chase Elliott best Hendrick Motorsports finisher 6 of last 8 races
• Clint Bowyer best Stewart-Haas Racing finisher at New Hampshire (7th) – First time best SHR finisher last 6 races
• Martin Truex Jr. only driver to sweep every Stage in MENCS race – 2017 Las Vegas & 2017 Kentucky
• Jimmie Johnson: 3 Wins this season – 1 Stage win (Sonoma Stage 1)
• 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
• Last winner after free-pass: Martin Truex Jr. – 2016 Chicagoland
• Stage 1 winner went on to win race 5 times
• 8 Won Stage 1 & Stage 2 – Twice went on to win race (Martin Truex Jr. Las Vegas & Kentucky)
• 3 Won after pit road speeding penalty this season:
• Kurt Busch Daytona 500, Brad Keselowski Martinsville April & Martin Truex Jr. Chicagoland
• 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 with 10 to go 4 of last 6 races – 1 Win (Chicagoland)
• Jimmie Johnson led 18 or fewer laps 3 of last 4 wins
• 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
• Last Rookie of the Year contender to win: Chris Buescher – Pocono 8/16
• Joe Gibbs Racing swept NXS & MENCS races at Bristol (Kyle Busch) & Darlington (Denny Hamlin)
• 9 Overtime races this season – Leader at scheduled distance won 5
• Youngest winner: Ryan Blaney – 23
• 19 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
• 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
• Roush Fenway Racing ended 101-race winless streak at Talladega May
• Richard Childress Racing ended 112-race winless streak at Phoenix March
• 3 Won first career race this season – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Talladega, Austin Dillon Charlotte & Ryan Blaney Pocono

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: 20 Elliott Sadler
• Best average finish this season (Drivers competing every race): 9.4 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: 23 Daniel Hemric
• 15 Different winners in 27 races this season
• 7 Different winners in last 7 races – Hornish Jr., Kyle Busch, Clements, Hamlin, Keselowski, Allgaier & Reddick
• Best Playoff finisher last race: Brennan Poole 2nd
• Worst Playoff finisher last race: Jeremy Clements 22nd
• Best non-Playoff NXS finisher last race: Tyler Reddick Winner
• Ty Dillon, Brandon Jones, Brennan Poole & Ryan Sieg eliminated Round of 12 last season
• Elliott Sadler lead full time NXS drivers with 5 Stage wins each
• Brad Keselowski (Pocono June) & Kyle Busch (Bristol Aug.) only drivers to win both Stages & race
• William Byron: Dash 4 Cash winner at Dover June – Finished 6th
• 2 NXS & MENCS weekend sweeps this season – Kyle Larson (Auto Club) & Kyle Busch (Bristol Aug.)
• Last winner after speeding penalty: Kyle Busch (Bristol 8/17)
• #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
• Cole Custer best Ford finisher 4 of last 9 races
• #22 Best Ford finisher 16 of 27 races this season – 3 Wins (Pocono, Mid-Ohio & Richmond Sept.)
• #18 Best Toyota finisher 11 of 27 races this season – 6 Wins
• #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 12 races
• 5 Different teams won last 5 races – Clements, Gibbs, Penske, JR Motorsports, Ganassi
• Largest margin-of-victory this season: Kentucky Sept. (Tyler Reddick over Brennan Poole)
• 22 Won Stages this season – 12 Winless in races
• 7 Won Stage 1 & went on to win race this season
• 5 Won Stage 2 & went on to win race
• 3 Won back-to-back races this season – Erik Jones, William Byron & Kyle Busch
• 8 Winners from pole this season – Kyle Busch 4, Denny Hamlin 1, Sam Hornish Jr. 1, Kyle Larson 1 & Ryan Preece 1
• 2 Winners from rear of field this season: Ryan Blaney (Charlotte May) & William Byron (Daytona June)
• Last 2 wins after free-pass: Kyle Busch (2014 & ‘16 Kansas)
• 2 Races settled by last lap pass this season – Pocono & Michigan
• Closest margin-of-victory this season: Michigan .012 seconds (Denny Hamlin over William Byron)
• 5 Overtime races this season – Daytona Feb., Richmond April, Daytona June, Iowa July & Darlington
• Cole Custer best Rookie of the Year contender at Kentucky (Finished 5th) – First time best Rookie finisher last 8 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
• 8 Won first pole this season – Bell, Benjamin, Byron, Hemric, B. Jones, Koch, Poole & Preece