 |  | | Kyle Busch had two victories in his rookie campaign on the Nextel Cup circuit and finished 20th in points. Credit: Autostock |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
January 16, 2006
11:57 AM EST (16:57 GMT)
The Cup cars get cranked up again Monday for Preseason Thunder at Daytona. The first session set the table for this group seeking speed, with Jeff Gordon's speed of 188.466 mph making his No. 24 Chevrolet the fastest of the fast. But it's time for the second session, so we've cranked out a second testing edition of By the Numbers.
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2 -- Pole positions Jeff Gordon needs to pass Bill Elliott for the active leader in poles. Elliott ranks sixth on the all-time list with 55 pole positions, while Gordon is one back with 54. |
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4 -- Races won from the pole position in four of the last seven years. The most victories from a pole since 1999 was five (2003). |
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6 -- Races won in 2005 by drivers competing in their first full-time season. Carl Edwards had four victories, and Kyle Busch won two times. |
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7.888 -- Average starting position for Ryan Newman in his 152-race career. |
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8 -- Extra miles last year's Daytona 500 was extended because of a green-white-checkered finish. It was the only Daytona 500 in history to go for more than 500 miles. |
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8 -- Positions Brian Vickers improved his standing in the points from 2004 (25th) to 2005 (17th). If he improves eight positions again in 2006, he will make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. |
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9 -- Races since a Dodge has gone to Victory Lane (Ryan Newman, Sept. 18, 2005). Dodge has only won seven of the last 68 races. |
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16 -- Joe Nemechek's finishing position in the 2005 Nextel Cup standings, the second-best performance of his career. He finished 15th in the points in 2000, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for Andy Petree. |
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22.339 -- Difference between Bill Elliott's fastest lap from testing last week (188.025 mph) and his Daytona qualifying track record of 210.364 mph, set in 1987. |
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30 -- Years since a driver won the championship while driving a Dodge. Richard Petty last lifted the trophy with Dodge in 1975, his sixth of seven championships. |
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35 -- Pole positions Ryan Newman has in his career. He has earned 34 of those since 2002, more than doubling second-ranked man Jeff Gordon's 15 since then. |
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42 -- Combined number of points that have decided the first two Chases for the Nextel Cup. Tony Stewart beat Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards last season by 35 points, while Kurt Busch bested Jimmie Johnson in 2004 by seven points. |
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92 -- Races since rain forced an event to end earlier than the scheduled distance. The 2003 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway was cut short of its scheduled 600 miles when rain forced the night to end after just 414 miles with Jimmie Johnson winning. |
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1990 -- The last season a driver other than Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt or Bill Elliott won the series' most popular driver award (Darrell Waltrip). Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won the award the past three years. |
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2001 -- The last year a driver won the points title by more than 100 points. Jeff Gordon beat Tony Stewart by 349 points. |
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2003 -- The last time the previous season's rookie of the year finished inside the top 10 in points (Ryan Newman). Tony Stewart (2000) is the only other driver to accomplish the feat since 2000. Kyle Busch was last year's rookie of the year. |
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In the past decade, five rookies of the year have improved their points standings the following season. Ryan Newman maintained his sixth-place finish in his second season, and Tony Stewart dropped two positions to sixth. On the flip side of that, Kevin Harvick took a nosedive following his rookie campaign, dropping 12 positions in the points. Kasey Kahne, the 2004 rookie of the year, also dropped double digits in the standings in his second season, falling 10 spots from 13th to 23rd.
| Rookie Follow-up |
| Cup rookies of the year and their follow-up season |
| Year |
Rookie |
Finish |
2nd Year |
| 2005 |
Kyle Busch |
20 |
TBD |
| 2004 |
Kasey Kahne |
13 |
23 |
| 2003 |
Jamie McMurray |
13 |
11 |
| 2002 |
Ryan Newman |
6 |
6 |
| 2001 |
Kevin Harvick |
9 |
21 |
| 2000 |
Matt Kenseth |
14 |
13 |
| 1999 |
Tony Stewart |
4 |
6 |
| 1998 |
Kenny Irwin Jr. |
28 |
19 |
| 1997 |
Mike Skinner |
30 |
21 |
| 1996 |
Johnny Benson |
21 |
11 |
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