Winston Cup Bristol Notes
NASCAR Public Relations
LOOKING AT DARLINGTON
TRANSOUTH FINANCIAL 400
Putting the wraps on Darlington and the TranSouth Financial 400.
With his ninth-place finish in Sunday's race, Ricky Rudd remains
the only driver to post a top-10 finish in each of the five races this
season. Including last year - Rudd's streak is up to seven races.
Eight drivers have three top-10s. For three of those, point leader
Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, all three-top 10 finishes are
top-fives as well. In fact, in the nine top-five finishes between those
three drivers, five of them represent wins.
After the first two races of the season, defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion
Gordon had an average finish of 41st. The three races since, Gordon's average
finish is 2.5 and his overall finish has jumped to 17.4.
Ward Burton was the fourth different driver in five races this season to win
a Busch Pole Award after capturing the top spot at Darlington last weekend.
TURNING TO BRISTOL
FOOD CITY 500
The average starting position of winners at Bristol for all races
this decade is 6.25.
Although more races at Bristol have been won from the Busch pole position
than any other starting position (17 of 70), the last drivers to do so were
Rusty Wallace in the spring 1993 and Mark Martin in the fall of 1993.
No driver has won back-to-back races at Bristol (Terry Labonte won there last
fall) since Alan Kulwicki did so by winning in the fall of 1991 and the spring
of 1992.
The furthest anyone has come to win a race at Bristol was in the
spring of 1994 when Earnhardt won after starting 24th. In fact, he is the
only driver to win at Bristol after starting further back than 20th. Davey
Allison is second on the list, winning from his 19th starting spot (and a
backstretch pit position) in the spring of 1990.
Rusty Wallace has won four of the last 10 Food City 500s (two since 1990).
Earnhardt is second with two wins in the spring race during the last decade
at Bristol.
Who owns the most top-five finishes in the spring race at Bristol the last 10
years? Well, that goes to the same guy who has won the most races: Wallace.
Wallace has six top-five finishes on the high banks of Bristol since 1986. That
was probably a pretty easy guess.
But --- who is second?
Ricky Rudd.
Although he doesn't have a win during that time, Rudd has five top-five finishes
in the spring at Bristol -- a 50-50 percentage. Allison had four, followed by Geoff
Bodine, Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Martin, and Darrell Waltrip with three each.
Last but not least:
- STAT OF THE WEEK: No driver who finished in the top five in the Food
City 500 at Bristol in 1994, finished in the top five
last year.
