Drivers

Expectations and the 2020 NASCAR Rookie Class

The ‘Big Three’ drivers who dominated the XFINITY Series last year are now part of what is being called one of the most promising rookie classes in Cup. A very competitive list of free agents […]

Drivers

Most Busch Clash Appearances

While some people count down the days until the Daytona 500, I’ve always looked forward to the first day of practice for the Busch Clash. This year, it’s February 8th (at 11:30 EST, if you’re […]

Drivers

Age and the NASCAR Driver: Can They Still Compete?

Jeff Gordon’s decision to step away from full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup racing has resulted in a lot of discussion about aging drivers. We’re on the verge of a turnover as a number of drivers (Johnson, Stewart, […]

Busch, Kyle

Do Drivers Slow Down When They Get Older?

NOTE: I’ve revisited this topic in a more-recent blog that has additional data. I’d encourage you to look there, as well There are a lot of things people say in NASCAR that have been said […]

Busch, Kyle

Is There Really a Second-Place Curse?

One of the commentators after the final race in Homestead mentioned that Jimmie Johnson should be happy he finished in third because it allows him to avoid the “dreaded second-place curse”.
Anytime someone says something like that, it makes me wonder whether there really is a curse, or whether that person had just been talking to Carl Edwards. So I analyzed a little data and guess what… there really IS a second place curse. […]

Asphalt
Childers, Rodney

Phoenix: Relay Race?

The race at Phoenix was the first non-restrictor-plate race. A number of drivers experienced engine-related problems, leading some media outlets to start blowing the “EFI problems” horns as loudly as possible. Mark Martin, the pole sitter, was an unfortunate casualties of a “flipped circuit breaker”. One of the most interesting exchanges to me was a series of tweets and a radio interview with Mark Martin’s Crew Chief Rodney Childers (@rchilders55) in which Childers repeatedly said it not “an EFI problem”, the radio commentators persisted in saying that it was. […]