NASCAR SNCS (DAYTONA) - IN THE LOOP

There’s A Reason It’s The Wild Card

Most drivers are calling this Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway the wild card race in the Chase. Any scenario can play out, and the standings could shuffle.

Anything can happen. And anything has. While most of the top five drivers in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings have solid overall statistics at Talladega, each have felt the sting of the historic restrictor plate track.

Below are few of the some of the statistical highlights and lowlights of some of the top-12 drivers at Talladega since 2005:

Jeff Gordon at Talladega (2005-2007) Date Finish ARP DR FLR LT15 Best Race 05/05 1 2.2 135.5 5 99.0% Worst Race 10/05 37 28.4 64.0 4 22.1% ARP: Avg. Running Position; DR: Driver Rating; FLR: Fastest Laps Run; LT15: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15

Jimmie Johnson at Talladega (2005-2007) Date Finish ARP DR FLR LT15 Best Race 05/06 1 6.2 114.9 1 97.3% Worst Race 10/05 31 28.0 45.5 3 14.2% ARP: Avg. Running Position; DR: Driver Rating; FLR: Fastest Laps Run; LT15: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15

Kevin Harvick at Talladega (2005-2007) Date Finish ARP DR FLR LT15 Best Race 10/06 6 15.1 96.8 3 56.4% Worst Race 05/06 23 29.6 44.2 3 0.0% ARP: Avg. Running Position; DR: Driver Rating; FLR: Fastest Laps Run; LT15: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15

Then there’s third-place driver Clint Bowyer. Though he has only three Talladega races to his credit, each have ended in disappointment. Below is Bowyer’s three-race breakdown:

Clint Bowyer at Talladega Date Finish ARP DR FLR LT15 05/06 40 39.0 32.9 0 .5% 10/06 35 22.4 56.7 5 29.8% 10/06 35 31.1 46.8 2 7.8% ARP: Avg. Running Position; DR: Driver Rating; FLR: Fastest Laps Run; LT15: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15

The above stats highlight the reason why every driver is pointing to this race as a possible turning point in the Chase. While Johnson, Gordon and Bowyer seem comfortably ahead in the standings (Gordon is currently 117 points ahead of fourth-place Stewart), anybody could face trouble at Talladega.

Below are the top-five in three key Loop Data categories:

Driver Rating 1. Jeff Gordon – 103.0 2. Jamie McMurray – 100.9 3. Matt Kenseth – 99.6 4. Kurt Busch – 98.7 5. Brian Vickers – 94.3

Average Running Position 1. Matt Kenseth – 9.4 2. Kurt Busch – 10.3 3. Jamie McMurray – 11.0 4. Jeff Gordon – 11.7 5. Jimmie Johnson – 12.4

Laps in the Top 15 1. Kurt Busch – 767 2. Matt Kenseth – 749 3. Jamie McMurray – 724 4. Jeff Gordon – 680 5. Jimmie Johnson – 670