 |  | | Jimmie Johnson has two finishes of worse than 25th. Credit: Autostock |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
August 18, 2006
04:37 PM EDT (20:37 GMT)
Jimmie Johnson now has a magic number. It's 25.  |
 | BY THE NUMBERS | |
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If Johnson, who has been Mr. Consistency all season, can finish 25th or better Sunday at Michigan, he will clinch a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. He has finished worse than 25th just two times this year: He was 30th at Bristol after a flat tire on Lap 3; he was 32nd at Daytona in July after collecting Bobby Labonte and hitting the wall on Lap 148. With four top-10 finishes in nine Michigan starts, including a sixth-place in June, it doesn't sound like a daunting task. After all, Johnson has led the point standings 20 of the 22 weeks, has 17 top-10s -- four more than any other driver -- and is the only driver with an average finish inside the top 10 (8.3). But despite leading the points at the halfway mark for the past three seasons, he's never been the points leader after Michigan. He's 124 points ahead of Matt Kenseth. In terms of clinching a Chase spot, however, it's not Kenseth he's worried about. What you didn't know
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571 -- Points any driver can be ahead of 11th place following the Michigan race and mathematically clinch a spot in the Chase. Jimmie Johnson has a 569-point lead over 11th place. |
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Driver Rating: GFS Marketplace 400
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121.5 -- Greg Biffle, No. 16 Roush Racing Ford. Biffle won at Michigan in June 2005, and since then he has finishes of sixth and fourth. He has led 77 laps and spent 90.7 percent of his time running inside the top 15 (480 of 529 laps). His average running position is 6.533. |
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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 GFS Marketplace 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT) will be the 75th race at Michigan International Speedway. With manufacturers taking center stage near Motor City, Chevrolets have not had the best performances. Jeff Gordon's 2001 win is the only one for Chevy in the past 15 races at Michigan. In that span, Ford has seven wins, Dodge has five and Pontiac has two.
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1 -- Driver ranked in the top 10 after race No. 22 last year that failed to make the Chase. Jamie McMurray was ninth and finished 12th. |
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2 -- Consecutive victories at Michigan for Evernham Motorsports (Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne). Before that, Roush Racing won two consecutive (both by Greg Biffle). Before that, Penske Racing won two consecutive (both by Ryan Newman). |
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3.7 -- Average finishes for Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards in the past three Michigan races. The two Roush Racing drivers have top-10s in the past four races there. |
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5.2 -- Average finish for Carl Edwards in his four Michigan races, the best among full-time drivers with more than one race there. |
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6.45 -- Average starting position for Michigan winners. Forty-three races have been won from a top-four starting position. Three of the past four winners have started outside of the top 10. |
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8 -- Top-five finishes for Roush drivers in the past three Michigan races. |
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8.2 -- Average starting position for Brian Vickers, the best among full-time drivers. Vickers is expected to make his 100th career start on Sunday. |
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11 -- Victories at Michigan for the Wood Brothers, more than any other owner. The team's last win at the 2-mile track came in August 1991 with driver Dale Jarrett. It was also Jarrett's first career victory. |
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12 -- Consecutive races at Michigan that Matt Kenseth has finished inside the top 15. |
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12 -- Different drivers have won in the past 14 Michigan races. Only Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman are repeat winners. Newman is expected to make his 175th career start. |
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15 -- Top-10 finishes for Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett. Both have four victories, while Martin has 29 top-10s and Jarrett has 26. |
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23 -- Points Matt Kenseth needs to beat Kasey Kahne by at Michigan to clinch a spot in the Chase. |
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23.8 -- Average finish for Elliott Sadler in 15 races at Michigan, which includes two top-10s. He will make his debut in the No. 19 Dodge this weekend. |
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24.29 -- Percent of passes that were made on the frontstretch in the last three Michigan races, the most popular place to pass. Turn 2 has seen just 9.73 percent of passes made in that span. |
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35 -- Races since Jeremy Mayfield won. His last victory was one year ago at Michigan. He is not entered in Sunday's race. |
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50 -- Laps led by Jeff Gordon at Michigan in June, exactly twice as many as Carl Edwards, who had the next highest. Gordon finished eighth. |
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81 -- Percent of Michigan races that have been won from a top-10 starting spot (60 of 74). Fifteen events have been won from the pole, including Kasey Kahne's June victory. |
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187.821 -- Average speed, in miles per hour, for Tony Stewart on the frontstretch in the past three Michigan races, the fastest among full-time drivers. Stewart also has the fastest average on the backstretch at 181.962 mph and led all four corners in average speed. |
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230 -- Passes made by Scott Wimmer at Michigan in the past three races, more than any other driver. His average finish in that span is 23.3. He can make his 100th career start this weekend. |
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1,492 -- Points scored by Kevin Harvick in the past 10 races, more than any other driver. Jimmie Johnson ranks fifth with 1,380. |
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With four races to go before the Chase begins, 23 drivers are still mathematically eligible for the 10-race playoff. Last driver eligible: Reed Sorenson, 1,054 points out of the lead and 539 points behind 10th place. First driver eliminated: Dale Jarrett, 1,176 points out of the lead.
| Chase Watch |
| Michigan statistics for top 15 in points |
| Rank |
Driver |
Wins |
Top-5s |
Top-10s |
Avg. Finish |
| 1. |
Jimmie Johnson |
0 |
1 |
4 |
15.9 |
| 2. |
Matt Kenseth |
1 |
5 |
9 |
8.4 |
| 3. |
Kevin Harvick |
0 |
2 |
4 |
17.4 |
| 4. |
Jeff Burton |
0 |
4 |
8 |
14.7 |
| 5. |
Kyle Busch |
0 |
0 |
1 |
22.0 |
| 6. |
Mark Martin |
4 |
15 |
26 |
12.1 |
| 7. |
Tony Stewart |
1 |
6 |
9 |
14.4 |
| 8. |
Denny Hamlin |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12.0 |
| 9. |
Jeff Gordon |
2 |
14 |
18 |
10.3 |
| 10. |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
0 |
1 |
3 |
19.3 |
| 11. |
Kasey Kahne |
1 |
3 |
3 |
11.0 |
| 12. |
Kurt Busch |
1 |
1 |
5 |
18.1 |
| 13. |
Greg Biffle |
2 |
4 |
5 |
10.0 |
| 14. |
Carl Edwards |
0 |
3 |
4 |
5.2 |
| 15. |
Brian Vickers |
0 |
0 |
2 |
19.6 |
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