 |  | | Kevin Harvick's 824-point winning margin in the standings is a Busch Series record. Credit: Autostock |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
November 24, 2006
10:36 PM EST (03:36 GMT)
From the time the green flag dropped on the season opener at Daytona, it was as if the Busch Series championship was Kevin Harvick's to lose. At Daytona, he finished fifth but the two cars he owned finished first and second. From California on, Harvick led the way in the standings. It took him eight races before finding Victory Lane, then he followed it with a near-record performance of nine victories. He had an average finish of 4.6 when the season ended, but his most-impressive feat -- victories, standings and laps led aside -- were, simply, his laps. What you didn't know
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1 -- Lap Kevin Harvick did not complete in the 2006 Busch Series season. The one lap Harvick failed to run came in the Oct. 13 race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, when he finished one lap down in ninth position. It was the same race that Harvick clinched the title driving his own No. 33 Chevrolet. |
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Driver Rating: 2006 Busch Series
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116.2 -- Kevin Harvick, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Harvick had 32 top-10 finishes in 35 races, with his worst finish being 19th at Milwaukee when he spun while racing for the lead. |
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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 Kevin Harvick became the seventh driver to win multiple Busch Series championships, joining Sam Ard, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jack Ingram, Randy LaJoie, Larry Pearson and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick's 824-point winning margin in the standings is a Busch Series record, and he came one victory shy of tying Sam Ard's record of 10 in a single season (1983).
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0 -- DNFs for Richard Childress Racing drivers Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer in 2006. They were the only drivers who were running at the finish of all 35 races. |
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0 -- Laps led by Stacy Compton, the only driver to start all 35 races that did not lead a lap in 2006. Compton's average finish was 22.7. |
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1 -- Career victory for Dave Blaney. He won his first race in any of NASCAR's top three series when he went to Victory Lane on Oct. 13 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. |
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2 -- Times during 2006 a driver won back-to-back races. Kevin Harvick won at Memphis and Texas before Matt Kenseth won the season's final two races. |
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3 -- Drivers were within 1,000 points of the lead in the final Busch Series standings: Carl Edwards (-824), Clint Bowyer (-965) and Denny Hamlin (-981). |
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6 -- Drivers earned more than $1 million, of which only Johnny Sauter and Paul Menard are drivers who do not also race full time in the Cup Series. |
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7.5 -- Average starting position for Denny Hamlin in 2006, the best among drivers who ran the entire schedule. Hamlin earned seven pole positions while only starting worse than 20th in two races: Bristol (22) and Memphis (40). |
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7.608 -- Average running position for Kevin Harvick in 2006, nearly three positions better than any other driver. Paul Menard had the best average (15.167) among Busch drivers who do not drive in the Cup Series full time. |
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8.829 -- Average starting position for 2006 winners. All but nine of the 35 races were won from a top-10 starting spot. Three races were won from the pole position. |
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14 -- Busch Series champions in the last 15 seasons have driven a Chevrolet. The only Ford driver to win a Busch title since 1992 was Greg Biffle in 2002. |
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17 -- Different winners in 2006, eight of which won multiple races. David Gilliland and Paul Menard were the only drivers to win who did not also race full time in the Cup Series. |
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154 -- Drivers who ran at least one Busch race in 2006. Sixty of those drivers led at least one lap. |
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1,197 -- Laps led by Kevin Harvick in 2006. Matt Kenseth ranks second on the list with 798 laps led, although Kenseth ran just 21 races. Jason Leffler's 199 laps led were the most among drivers who did not win. |
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Cup drivers dominated the Busch Series standings, as eight of the top 10 were drivers who raced both schedules full time. However, three of the drivers ranked in the top 10 did not start all 35 Busch races: Kyle Busch (34), Reed Sorenson (34) and Greg Biffle (30).
| Busch Series |
| Statistics for the top 10 in points |
| Pos. |
Driver |
W |
T5 |
T10 |
Avg. |
| 1. |
Kevin Harvick |
9 |
23 |
32 |
4.6 |
| 2. |
Carl Edwards |
4 |
15 |
25 |
11.4 |
| 3. |
Clint Bowyer |
1 |
12 |
17 |
12.1 |
| 4. |
Denny Hamlin |
2 |
12 |
23 |
12.4 |
| 5. |
J.J. Yeley |
0 |
9 |
22 |
13.1 |
| 6. |
Paul Menard |
1 |
7 |
16 |
16.9 |
| 7. |
Kyle Busch |
1 |
4 |
12 |
17.2 |
| 8. |
Johnny Sauter |
0 |
2 |
9 |
18.7 |
| 9. |
Greg Biffle |
1 |
9 |
18 |
14.2 |
| 10. |
Reed Sorenson |
0 |
5 |
14 |
19.3 |
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