With Daytona 500 qualifying last night,the Graph of the Day for 02-16-2023 has to be the qualifying times posted. In the graph below, green circles are times posted in the first qualifying round. Yellow stars are times posted by those drivers who made it to the second qualifying round.
About the Graph
Kyle Busch’s second qualifying run was disallowed because he went below the double yellow line.
Chandler Smith, the first driver to qualify, had problems with his car staying fired. You can just barely see the data point in the upper right hand corner.
Conor Daly couldn’t post a pole time because an electric problem opened up an oil line. He’ll have to race in tonight.
Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana both secured spots in the Daytona 500 with their qualifying times
Also…
Alex Bowman’s record of starting on the front row of the Daytona 500 increased to six out of the last eight races, or 75%.
The next-closest driver in terms of percentages of starting on the front row is William Byron at 40%. Bowman is almost double the next-best driver’s rate.
But, as I point out in my NBC Sports column this week, winning the pole these days pretty much guarantees you won’t win the race.
Hendrick Motorsports prizes poles — but is that emphasis hurting their chances of winning? I wouldn’t be upset if Bowman proved me wrong.
Elliott’s best finishes came when he qualified 11th and 12th. Let’s see how he does tonight in the duels.
That’s the Graph of the Day for 02-16-2023.
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