NASCAR Winston Cup Series Notes of Interests (Week of 08/11/97)
12 August 1997
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Notes of Interest Week of August 11, 1997 DAYTONA BEACH, FL - With his fifth-place finish Sunday, Mark Martin now has nine top-10 finishes in the last 10 years at Watkins Glen. - Robby Gordon's fourth-place finish was the first top-10 finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup career. - Rusty Wallace's third-place finish was only his third top-10 in the last nine races. - Steve Grissom's ninth-place finish was only this third top-10 of the season. - Since starting the season with a third and a fifth at Daytona and Rockingham, respectively, Ricky Craven has just one top-10 finish, a ninth at California Speedway. His average finish during that period is 23.38. - Still, Craven and Joe Nemechek had the best jump in the point standings this week, each moving up three spots (Craven from 26th to 23rd and Nemechek from 36th to 33rd). - Ward Burton had the biggest drop of the week, also three spots, from 23rd to 26th. - Since finishing second at Martinsville, 13 races ago, Bobby Hamilton has finished no better than 17th. TOP 10 - TENTH: Bill Elliott's seventh-place finish Sunday was his fourth consecutive top-10 and the seventh in the last 10 races. - NINTH: Ricky Rudd's average finish in the last nine races is 17.55 and that includes two wins. - EIGHTH: Jeremy Mayfield now has posted eight top-15 finishes in the last nine races. - SEVENTH: Bobby Labonte has six top-10 finishes in the last 11 races but his average finish in the other five is 29.2 - SIXTH: Dale Earnhardt has just three top-five finishes through the first 20 races of the season. The fewest top-fives Earnhardt has posted in a season during his 19-year career was the six he recorded in 1992. He has had 10 or more in 14 of the last 18 years. - FIFTH: Jeff Burton has 16 top-15 finishes in the first 20 races of the season. The other four races however have produced finishes of 29th or worse, including two 42nds. - FOURTH: Terry Labonte also has surprisingly struggled with consistency lately. The usually steady driver has five top-10 finishes in the last eight races, but the other three finishes were 35th, 39th and 40th. - THIRD: Dale Jarrett has seven top-10s and five top-fives in the last 12 races. The other five finishes, however, were 27th or worse. - SECOND: Mark Martin now has 13 top-10 finishes in the last 14 races. - FIRST: Jeff Gordon's win was his eighth of the season, his 15th top-five and top-10 finish of the season. His average finish in the other five races this season is 28.4. TURNING TO MICHIGAN AND THE ITW DEVILBISS 400 - Only 13 times in the previous 56 NASCAR Winston Cup races at Michigan Speedway has the winner come from the Busch Pole position. It has happened only twice in the last decade, in 1994 (Geoff Bodine) and 1995 (Bobby Labonte), both times in this race. - Harry Gant owns the honor of coming from the deepest in the field to win the ITW DeVilbiss 400, or any NWC race at Michigan for that matter. Gant started 24th when he won the 1992 August event at Michigan. - Only twice in the last 13 years: 1984 (Darrell Waltrip) and 1995 (Labonte) has a Chevrolet found its way to victory lane following this race. - Jeff Gordon has posted top-five finishes in three of the last four runnings of the Devilbiss 400. Gordon also has four top-five finishes in the last five races overall at Michigan. - Bobby Labonte was the last driver to win both races in a year at Michigan, doing so in 1995. The last driver before that? Bill Elliott (1986). - Five drivers have won both races at Michigan seven times since the NASCAR Winston Cup Series first ran there in 1969, Bobby Allison (1971), David Pearson (1972, 76), Cale Yarborough (1983), Elliott (1985, 86) and Bobby Labonte (1995). - Seven active drivers: Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Geoff Bodine and Bobby Labonte have won this race. - Wallace has finished in the top-five in seven of the last 10 years in this race. - Bill Elliott won this race three consecutive years from 1985-87 and posted seven top fives in the eight editions of this event between 1985-92. He has not finished in the top five in this race since. - Elliott was the last driver to win this race in consecutive years. - Mark Martin would have to be considered a favorite to win this week's ITW DeVilbiss 400. Martin has finished in the top five in five of the last six years in this event. Two of those were wins and two were second-place runs. - Pearson leads both lists as the all-time Busch Pole (10) and win (nine) leader at Michigan. - Elliott is the leader among active drivers in those categories with six Busch Poles and seven wins. STAT OF THE WEEK Bill Elliott's seventh-place top-10 finish sunday was his fourth straight. The last time Elliott put together four straight top-10 finishes was 1993-94 when he finished the season strong with a third at Rockingham, a fifth at Phoenix and a fourth at Atlanta and kicked off the 1994 season by finishing ninth in the 1994 Daytona 500. By NASCAR Public Relations
