Again, we’ll go with active drivers w/ more than 10 starts (with two exceptions, my site=my rules). Stats we’re looking at are % of races finished on the lead lap and % of laps lead, and anything else my fingers type. And again I’d like to mention that the base numbers for this math came from www.racing-reference.info.

Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and Bobby Labonte have finished the Fontana race 75% of the time on the lead lap. This is the best average for those with more than 10 starts. These 3 all have 12 starts.

Jeff Gordon sticks out of this crowd with 3 wins, and he’s lead 14% of the laps he’s turned. Doesn’t seem like huge numbers, but no one else w/ 10 or more starts even comes close. Only Greg Biffle has a higher laps lead figure (15%), but not enough starts to really get a good picture.

Jeff also sticks out with an average finish of 12.3. Most numbers were considerably higher than this. Seems like everyone’s had there share of troubled finishes at this track. If this pick was based on all stats, Jeff would be your favorite to win. But this is the Stewartfan page.

Honorable mentions go to Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. Jimmie’s finished all 7 of the races he’s started here on the lead lap. That’s 100% people. Even without 10 starts I thought this was a good stat. Matt has 77% LLF (Lead Lap Finishes) with 9 starts.

Tony Stewart has finished 60% of his 10 starts here on the lead lap. He’s lead 8% of his circuits around the sunny tri-oval. No wins here yet for Tony. Hopefully they get a car under him this weekend. Bristol was hard to watch.

Robby Gordon; well he sucks here too. 25% LLF, and he’s lead 0.5% of the laps he’s turned here. I’m almost tired of reporting how bad he is, but if you Google Robby+Gordon+Sucks, I’m the second link from the top. It’s my current claim to fame, so I’ll keep it up a little while longer.

Others comfortable with the track here? Greg Biffle and Kyle Bush won here last year. Carl Edwards has finished all 4 of his races here on the lead lap, with an average finish of 4.5. Mark Martin leads in top 10 finishes w/ 6.

My pick? Tony gets his first win at the California Speedway this weekend. To pick anyone else, well it’s just not done here. We NASCAR fans are nothing if not loyal.

A local racefan caught me on film. I was cruzing some other NASCAR blogs out there and found this pic. I'm probably out looking for food, but my HMMWV (Humvee) is clear as mud in this photo. It's from the spring '05 race at Dover. I drive the parade lap in it every race. I'ts cool to get a 144,00 person standing "O" twice a year. Thanks to you all for your support of the military.   No, they're nothing like the civilian model. Mike Helton actually approached me about purchasing it. They're not sold to the public normally, but I was able to find one that slipped out (legally) back in the 80's. I hooked him up with the supplier; not sure if he ever picked it up. 

If not, we have a problem. You can use the video below to fix it. NASCAR is truly America's Sport.

Bristol = Boring?

Who finished second in the points standings last year? You and I know, but we're in the minority. How big was that check Tony got for finishing 1st? Did second place visit the White House, go on Letterman, or sit at the head table in NYC?

Can you really blame them? A bigger winning points bonus would go along way, add more penalties for rough driving for the Robby Gordon’s out there. Either way, I think just being careful at Bristol in the fall is going to be boring for some time to come.

Last weeks stat picked your winner, let’s try it again. If it works again, my fat ass is on a plane to Vegas. If we use the same stat as last week to figure out a winner (% times finished on the lead lap/Active Drivers with more than 10 starts), it would go like this:

1. Kevin Harvick with 72% FOLL (Finishes on Lead Lap)
2. Dale Jr. with a 69% FOLL
3. Matt Kenseth with 69% (Same starts and finishes on lead lap as Jr.)
4. Kurt Bush (also tied with Jeff Gordon w/ 5 wins)
5. Jeff Gordon; 59% with 27 starts
6. Jimmie Johnson; 55%
7. Tony Stewart; 53%
8. Mark Martin; 51%, 39 races, and only other multi race winner
9. Elliot Sadler; 50% FOLL, and another top ten qualifying effort.

The clear winner is of course Tony Stewart; no other driver shows the raw talent behind any steering wheel. Put one on the space shuttle, and we’ll have our first man on Mars.

Robby Gordon; 9%. Put a wheel on the space shuttle, and he’d hit the launch tower. Let’s see if he can make it more than 7 laps this weekend.

I see Benny on TV this weekend, and I’ll feel good.

What good would points have done? What good would a 50, 100, or 1000 point fine have done? Harvick would have to stop showing up for races for Edwards to win the championship, and I'm sure 2nd place just doesn't mean much to him. 2nd and last are the same positions for him in any Bush race. It’s not like he’s got to take the Bush series seriously, like the rest of the Bushwhackers. It would however, have set a precedent for future violations of the same rule. That’s about it, though.

This whole thing could’ve been avoided if Robby Gordon would give up driving. Jr. would’ve just passed him on the bottom and won the race without hitting anyone. There’s your real culprit.

Is it just me or do these cars look like smashed ass? Credit to Jayski.com for the picture. Just didn't seem like they had to go this far for a safer car. 

Post Michigan post?...

Matt Kenseth lives up to the stats I laid out last week. The car that Jeff Gordon wrecked at Chicagoland was resurrected to beat him here.

Tony gets another top 5 with his 3rd place finish. It moves him up 2 spots in the chase, but still in the tight pack of points between 5th and 10th. He doesn’t lead a lap for the 5 bonus points. He was the best at the bonus point game in the first half of the season, but they haven’t been gathering them up lately. I’m sure he had his foot on the floor the whole race, so we’ve got to find a few more MPH in the car, Zippy.

As for the rest of JGR, more of the same; another top 10 for Hamlin, another wrinkled up race car for J.J. Yeley. That makes 11 top 10’s for Hamlin. That kind of consistency will not only get him into the chase, but put him in contention for a championship in his rookie year.

Jeff Burton couldn’t make his pole position work for him. He couldn’t even lead the first (or any) lap(s). His oil pan fails to keep the rest of the motor intact, he finishes 42nd. Clint Boyer, his teammate, runs up front the whole race, only to suffer the same fate with a few laps to go.

Elliot Sadler gets a top 10, and at the same time mathematically eliminated from the chase. This should put him in the top 35 in owner’s points, so he won't have to race his way into Bristol. Not that the VA boy would have a problem, but his team owner probably feels pretty good right now.

Robby Gordon runs out of talent on lap 7, no surprise. He does gather it up to finish 12th, not bad.

If Charlotte is the home town for the drivers, Michigan is the home town for the cars. There’s a lot of manufacturer pride on the line here. The winner will be the automaker whose car gets the checkered flag and appears in victory lane. So which driver is gonna win? Tony Stewart; and to think otherwise is just plain stupid. But now for some stupid figures I came up with. With the help from racing-reference.info, I did some spreadsheet crunching. Only driver participating in the race were considered. I didn’t include drivers with less than 10 starts. My numbers are my numbers. They are not to be disputed. Rude comments are encouraged. Correction of my math is not. Microsoft® Excel did the calculating, not me. Based on the fact that you can’t win unless you finish on the lead lap, I did the math to see who finishes on the lead lap the most. Matt Kenseth has the highest percentage of finishes on the lead lap with 92%. He’s got 12 starts here at Michigan, and has led 2.35% of his laps run. He’s got 1 win. Ryan Newman has finished on the lead lap 90% of the time and lead 4.7% of his laps here in 10 starts, 2 wins. No one’s in the 80 percentile, these guys own this stat category. I made it up, so you can’t refute it. But in true blog style, give it you’re best shot. Remember, I didn’t include drivers with less than 10 starts. Highest percentage of laps led goes to Jeff Gordon with 16%. He’s finished on the lead lap 77% of the time in his 15 races at this “cookie cutter”. He’s got 2 wins to show for it. Pole sitter Jeff Burton; 72% finished on the lead lap, 1.57% of his laps he’s led. I’ll bet you that stat goes up on Sunday. No wins, wouldn’t mind seeing this change, also. Tony Stewart (‘cause this is the StewartFan page); 60% lead lap finishes, 6.24% laps led, 1 win (it was in a Pontiac, June 2000, with Dale Earnhardt Sr. right behind him in 2nd) Last, and definitely least; Robby Gordon 30% finished on the lead lap, .04% lap led (probably stayed out on first pit stop to get that), and a big fat 0 wins. He’s the worst.

Small rehash: RacinNation.com - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series News. NASCAR Fan Portal. - Stewart feeling fine about NASCAR points format

Take the bad with the good….

It sickens me to see DEI put Robby Gordon in the 88 car after booting a friend of the family out of it. I guess I shouldn’t really care, but here I am ready to hurl. Robby Gordon sucks!

On the other hand; a quote from Jr. in the Charlotte Observer says that Mark might fill in on the 2nd DEI bush team, sponsored by Budweiser©, and driven in 7 races by Jr. His sponsor seems to have reluctantly agreed to letting him drive anything bigger than a lawnmower that isn’t his cup car.

Notes from the Glen

Congratulations to Kevin Harvick for seeing where Tony was weak, and passing him at the perfect time. They both knew what each others car was capable of. Tony passing on the outside was phenomenal.  But he knew Tony was tight, took his time, and set him up for a turn 11/1 pass on the next lap.
Tony personally took the hit for second place, saying he overdrove the last few laps. Zippy had told us earlier that the car was tight and that Tony would have to make up for the ill adjusted car.
Jamie McMurray
Robby Gordon blames his 4th place on a “conservative” DEI engine. Excuses from him are expected. We’ll see if his mouth gets him a faster engine next week. He’s mathematically eliminated from the chase.
Carl Edwards quietly creped back into the top 10 for the finish. His consistency is on, but too late in the season.
Kasey Kahne wrecked out in the last lap again. No chase for Kasey again this year.
Another top 10 for Denny Hamlin, another wrinkled up race car for J.J. Yealy.

Don't usually rehash the news, but I'd like really like to see this guy stay in the sport. NASCAR.COM - Notebook: Junior explains McFarland firing - Aug 12, 2006

From our friends at www.racing-reference.info:

• Of all active drivers, there are only 5 with wins. Anyone can guess the first few, Jeff Gordon (4 wins) and Tony (3). Tony has finished all of his races here on the lead lap with an average finish of 7.4.
• You might even remember Mark Martin winning (3). Mark also has the most laps lead among active drivers (204) and the most finishes on the lead lap.
• As much as it pains me, Robby Gordon even won once here. Just in case I forget at the end, Robby Gordon sucks.
• Who’s the last? Kyle Petty has one win here.
• Michael Waltrip has the most starts here among active drivers (20), but 1 top 5 is the best he’s done.
• Bill Elliot, starting the 19 car this weekend has an average starting position of 11.5. The driver he’s replacing, Jeremy Mayfield, has an average start of 26.3. Not a bad switch for Ray Evernham.
• This hasn’t been a good track for Jimmie Johnson or Matt Kenseth. Doesn’t mean either one of these championship caliber teams can’t pull one out of the hat. The Brickyard was proof of that. A couple of DNF’s would go along way to seeing a few more cars in the case, though.
• The artificial drama this weekend? The road course ringers…..Looking through the stats doesn’t show them as much of a threat, but I’m sure they’ll get the press they're looking for.

That’s all for stats from “The Glen”, and Robby Gordon still sucks.

When I became a NASCAR fan, it was because of my parents going to our local track in Manassas, VA. Old Dominion Speedway is a dump of a short track, but I’m sure it’s some of Saturday night racing’s finest. Everything you want and not one dime more from the promoter. Just like your local track, I’m sure. It was that same “Old vs. Young” that all racing has. The young guy at ODS was Mark McFarland. To see him race and win was a good night at the track. My parents were involved in his racing program. Their names appeared on his car as two of the “Trunk Bunch”, not quite sure what that meant. After the race, in true short track style, we’d go down in the pits and have a few words with some of the drivers. We'd always go by his trailer, usually to congratulate him on another come from behind victory. His release from Jr Motorsports today was kind of a surprise. Is he kicking’ butt? No. Has he got a chance at the championship? No. On the other hand…Is there that much talent to choose from out there? No. Putting Truex in the car isn’t a bad thing, but developing drivers in the Bush series one of its main purposes. I blame this firing directly on the Navy, but I blame a lot of things on the Navy. The pressure from the sponsor shouldn’t make racing decisions, and I think this one hurt the long term goals for Jr. as a team owner. I hope someone can see McFarland for his growing talent and scoops him up immediately. Someone from Joe Gibbs Racing out there? This kids got my endorsement. Blogging straight out of Word makes me look soooo much smarter than I really am. Or maybe I’m smart because I blog out of Word in the first place? Either way, spell check on the fly kicks butt! Robby Gordon sucks, almost forgot. If he’s not mathematically eliminated after this race, I’ll have to wait one more week, and that’s only because this is a road course. Question is who will he take out of the race this week?

Never tried this before, but here it is...... NASCAR.COM - Stewart, Hamlin turn near disasters into solid runs - Aug 7, 2006

Congrats to Jimmie and Chad. Even as a Stewart fan, I can't help but root for his team to get it this year. When I hear those announcers talk about how much of a points shakeup a flat tire is gonna bring, the more I think of how stupid they are. Or is it how stupid they think we are? Do these guys watch the race every week? This isn't reality TV. We don't need to build in drama to see a good race. Don't they see teams like Jimmy's recover from problems like this EVERY TIME? There was no doubt in my mind that he'd finish in the top 10 as soon as they said that. Oh, and Robby Gordon is the worst driver in NASCAR history.

A good day at Indy

I’m not one to believe in conspiracy theories, but I’m under the impression that there should have been a green/white/checker at the end. Half of Kasey Kahne’s race car was strewn across the track and there were still cars running at speed. The in-car camera showed Tony Raine’s DLP car jump off the ground as it ran into a piece of debris the size of a tire. NASCAR had picked its winner already, and they weren’t going to let a little safety issue screw that up.

Of course all I wanted was 10 more points for Tony, as he would have been able to get K. Bush and Jr. on a restart on newer tires.

I’ve said it hundreds of times, but it’s worth saying again; Robby Gordon sucks.