Darlington: This is What Heartbreak Looks like in a Graph

Martin Truex, Jr. just can’t catch a break this year. Take a look at the Lead-O-Gram for the Darlington race.

The Lead-O-Gram for Darlington, September 2020

Chase Elliott and Truex, Jr. held the lead for most of the race — the third time we’ve visited Darlington this year

A column chart of the lap leaders at Darlington: September 2020
  • Truex, Jr. led 196 laps (53.4%)
  • Eliott led 114 laps (31.0%)
  • Together, they led 84.4% of the laps in this race.

Neither won. Instead they crashed each other. Truex, Jr. finished in P22 and Elliott in P20. Another example that it’s not infrequent for the drivers who lead the most laps to fail to win the race.

I suspect Truex, Jr. would much rather have had another second place than a twenty-second place given that there are only two more races after Darlington before the next elimination. It’s no fun knowing that you’ve got only Richmond and Bristol to get yourself back on top.

Sometimes, the secret to winning is being in the right place at the right time, which Kevin Harvick seems to have a knack for doing. But remember that luck favors the prepared and that’s something else Harvick and his team do very well.

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  1. 2024 Darlington I Race Report : Building Speed

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