NASCAR.COM - By the Numbers: Loudon

Last year's champ is this year's biggest New Hampshire challenger

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
July 13, 2006
11:00 AM EDT (15:00 GMT)

Three weeks ago at Sonoma, Tony Stewart's name popped up as memories of last summer's dominance were dusted off and put on the mantel for show again.

Let's review: Last year he won at Infineon and Daytona and then finished fifth at Chicago before winning at New Hampshire, his third victory in four weeks.

This summer -- despite the Daytona mosh-pit scene -- hasn't been the same. Sandwiching the holiday victory at Daytona, Stewart was 28th at Sonoma thanks to a dropped cylinder and was 32nd at Chicagoland after running out of gas on the final lap.

Since Pocono, he has dropped from fourth to seventh in the standings. Last year during the same timeframe, he moved from 10th to third. And New Hampshire was one of his most captivating performances.

Stewart won this race last year and then followed it up with a second-place finish in the September edition during the Chase. A repeat of last year -- or even last summer -- may be tough.

What you didn't know

405 -- Laps led by Tony Stewart of the 600 laps run at New Hampshire last year. He led 232 in July and 173 in September. Ryan Newman's 88 laps led were second-most.

Driver Rating: Lenox Industrial Tools 300

146.1 -- Tony Stewart, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. In two races at New Hampshire last year, Stewart never fell below 18th position and was passed a total of 26 times under green.

NASCAR's driver rating combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15s, average lead-lap running position, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps and lead-lap finish. Statistics based on current and past year at track. Maximum rating: 150 points.

Numerology

Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 (1:30 p.m. ET, TNT) will be the 23rd race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Three of the first four races were won by drivers no longer driving full time in NASCAR -- Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd and Ernie Irvan. The next five -- and the one between Rudd's victory and Irvan's victory -- were won by Jeffs.

Jeff Gordon won the race between Rudd and Irvan in 1995, and he and Jeff Burton alternated victories between 1997 and 1999.

1 -- Driver who has finished every race he has run at New Hampshire on the lead lap: Jimmie Johnson, eight races.

2 -- Drivers who have been running at the finish of all 22 races at New Hampshire: Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte.

3 -- Drivers who ran inside the top 15 all 300 laps last July at New Hampshire: Tony Stewart (first), Bobby Labonte (third) and Jimmie Johnson (13th).

4 -- Consecutive years Jeff Burton won a race at New Hampshire between 1997 and 2000.

5 -- Drivers who had an average running position inside the top 10 last year at New Hampshire: Tony Stewart (2.578), Ryan Newman (6.907), Jeff Gordon (7.952), Jimmie Johnson (8.743) and Greg Biffle (10.002).

6 -- Drivers who have multiple wins at New Hampshire, with Jeff Burton's four victories being the most by any driver. Jeff Gordon (three), Tony Stewart (two), Kurt Busch (two), Jimmie Johnson (two) and Ryan Newman (two) also have multiple wins there.

7 -- Consecutive top-10 finishes for Matt Kenseth at New Hampshire, the longest current streak.

7.9 -- Average finish for Ryan Newman at New Hampshire. He has finished outside the top 10 once (33rd in 2004 after an engine failure) and just three times outside the top five.

10 -- Wins for Ford at New Hampshire. Chevrolet has eight. Dodge and Pontiac have two victories each.

10.620 -- Average running position for Jeff Gordon this year, tops among all drivers.

11 -- Drivers who have started every New Hampshire race. Only Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace are not entered in Sunday's race.

14 -- Top-10 finishes by Dale Jarrett at New Hampshire, more than any driver.

26.64 -- Average starting position of New Hampshire winners. The past two winners have started 13th. Only twice has a winner started from the pole: Jeff Gordon (1998) and Ryan Newman (2002).

27.62 -- Percent of passes made on the frontstretch last year at New Hampshire, the most popular place to pass. Turn 3 only saw 8.80 percent of passes.

50 -- Percent of the New Hampshire races have been won from a top-10 starting spot.

58 -- Races Ken Schrader has officially run this year, including Nextel Cup, Busch Series, the Budweiser Shootout, the Copper World Classic and 31 short-track races. He is scheduled for a race Thursday night in Vermont and Friday night in Maine.

75 -- Career victories for Jeff Gordon, seventh on the all-time list and just one behind Dale Earnhardt for sixth. Gordon has won three times at New Hampshire but not since 1998.

80 -- Laps last July in which Tony Stewart recorded the fastest speed, 52 times more than anybody else. Of the 600 laps run at New Hampshire last year, Stewart recorded the fastest lap 151 times, with the fastest being 128.523 mph (fourth overall) last September.

125 -- Passes made by Michael Waltrip last year at New Hampshire, more than any other driver.

395 -- Laps led by Mark Martin, the most among drivers who have not won at the track.

399 -- Career starts for Jeremy Mayfield heading to New Hampshire this weekend.

599 -- Consecutive starts for Mark Martin heading to New Hampshire this weekend. Ricky Rudd holds the all-time mark for consecutive starts at 788.

1,069 -- Laps led by Jeff Gordon at New Hampshire, more than any other driver and the only driver to top the 1,000 mark.

2000 -- Year Jeff Burton led all 300 laps to win the Dura-Lube 300, just the third time in the modern era that a driver has led every lap of a Cup Series race.

Ryan Newman leads all drivers in average start (6.6) and average finish (7.9), and in his eight starts at New Hampshire, he's got two victories, five top-fives and seven top-10s. And he's never been to the track without leading a lap.

New (Hampshire) Man

Ryan Newman's statistics at New Hampshire

Year	Start	Finish	Status	Led
2002	7	5	running	1
	1	1	running	143
2003	16	4	running	29
	1	9	running	47
2004	1	3	running	187
	10	33	engine	4
2005	4	7	running	22
	13	1	running	66
Average	6.6	7.9		499

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