Cooling
Does Qualifying Matter at Talladega?
50% of races won at Talladega are won by drivers starting from the first two rows. Can you win if you don’t qualify well? […]
Graphs and Charts
Graphs and Charts
Dominance of the Few Isn’t New in NASCAR
Have recent rules and regulation changes made the NASCAR Cup series less competitive by making a small number of drivers dominant and locking out others? […]
Busch, Kurt
Cautions are Down in 2018: Are NASCAR Drivers Getting Better at Avoiding Accidents?
NASCAR Cautions are down again in 2018. Is this due to stage racing? The damaged vehicle policy? Or are drivers just getting better and having fewer accidents? […]
Drivers
Do Less-Experienced NASCAR Drivers Get More In-Race Penalties?
NASCAR has assessed 376 in-race penalties after 34 races. Do less-experienced drivers make more of these mistakes? Let’s check the data. […]
Busch, Kurt
Winning vs. Consistency: The Delicate Balance of the NASCAR Playoffs
The NASCAR playoffs determine the season’s champion. Is the champion the guy who wins the most races? Or the guy who runs up front the most?
There’s no scientific way to answer this question, but there is data. NASCAR has modified their playoffs to try to create a suitable balance between winning and consistency. Have they succeeded?
Drivers
The NASCAR Playoffs and Preordination
Preordination (n): The action of determining an outcome or course of action in advance;Â The fact of being determined in advance. The Oxford Living Dictionary You’d think with my interest in data that I’d be the […]
Cautions
Early-Season Predictions Require Caution
Predictions: The Peril of the Early-Season Off-Week I can post only when I have something to contribute. The professionals who cover NASCAR don’t have the luxury of waiting until there’s news. The content monster remains perpetually […]
Drivers
NASCAR’s Youth Movement is Actually Sort of Old
Goin’ Down? 2018 is being hailed as the year of the NASCAR Youth Movement as we bid farewell to older drivers and welcome in a class of youngsters. The average age of Hendrick’s starting lineup […]
Graphs and Charts
2018 XFINITY Daytona Qualifying
A fast one-graph summary of data for the XFINITY qualifying stats. Up to 36th position, qualifying times are roughly linear with a slope of 0.056 seconds per position. 1st to 2nd: 0.083 seconds 1st to […]
Graphs and Charts
How Well Does Daytona Predict A Driver’s Season?
The Meaning of Daytona Ah… the optimism of a new season. Everyone is unbeaten. Everyone is tied for first place. Everyone has a shot at the championship. Then Speedweeks starts. NASCAR doesn’t ease into the […]