Drivers
Elite Drivers After Their Last Wins
@KudzuCarl read my article for NBC Sports about how many races elite drivers ran after their last win. He suggested using finishing position as a metric, which is a great idea. […]
math
2022
More-Experienced Drivers Fared Worse with the Next Gen Car: Season Rankings
From the start of the 2022 season, veteran NASCAR Cup Series drivers fared worse with the Next Gen car much more than their less-experienced counterparts. Some drivers, like Denny Hamlin, seemed to come to grips with the car in the later portions of the season. Others didn’t. […]
Statistics
What Does the Number of Drivers Earning Top Tens in the First Three Races Really Mean?
Twenty-five different drivers earned top tens in the first three races of the year. But what does that stat really mean? […]
Penalties
2021 Penalties
2021 penalties were down, but let’s take a deep dive into how and why, including how the change in schedule impacted penalties. […]
Statistics
Early-Season Predictions: Don’t Believe Anything You Read — Yet
Don’t believe early-season predictions. There is nothing in a 36-race season that can be predicted on the basis of three races. […]
Racing
Best Drivers by Track Type 2000-2020
Today’s analysis is the last in the track-type series. Today, we’ll look at the best drivers who drove at least 50 races in their careers and at least one race in the time period 2000-2020. […]
Racing
The Best Average Finishing Position by Track Type
We’ve looked in detail at the average finishing positions for the five track types (superspeedway, short tracks, road courses, intermediate tracks and the 2-mile non-superspeedway tracks, which I’ve creatively called ‘other’. Now, let’s put all […]
Statistics
NASCAR by the Numbers 2020: Penalties
Penalties can make or break a driver’s race — or season — so here’s a look at all the penalties assessed in 2020, who got them and when. We’ll investigate all three types of penalties: […]
Racing
Laps Led and Lead Changes: All Laps are Not Created Equal
NASCAR provides lots of statistics, but beware: the numbers can be deceiving. That’s especially true for laps led and lead changes Laps Led The box score for each race always includes statistics like how many […]
Aerodynamics
One NASCAR Rules Package for All Tracks?
NASCAR wants to cut costs for teams by developing a rules package that, with minimal tweaking, provides good racing at any track. The 2019 rules package met with mixed results. Races were mostly better at […]