NASCAR.COM - By the Numbers: Cup

By the Numbers: Cup

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
November 25, 2006
08:25 PM EST (01:25 GMT)

One single number changed the complexity of the Chase: 218.

In the playoff's sixth race, it was Lap 218 that Jeff Burton's motor gave out, forcing him behind the wall and eventually out of the race. He finished 42nd that day at Martinsville, dropping him from first in the championship standings to fifth, appropriately 48 points behind race winner Jimmie Johnson.

Burton never recovered from that loss of points and the win ultimately propelled Johnson to his first title. For the rest of the Chase, Johnson finished second three more times and completed his title run with a ninth at Homestead.

On the flip side, Burton only cracked the top 10 one other time after Martinsville -- a 10th-place run at Phoenix. And that cost him.

What you didn't know

393 -- Points Jeff Burton lost to Jimmie Johnson over the final five races. Burton entered the Martinsville race with a 146-point lead over seventh-place Johnson, but Johnson finished the season 247 points ahead of Burton in the final standings.

Driver Rating: 2006 Nextel Cup Series

101.9 -- Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Johnson had 24 top-10 finishes during 2006 with an average finish of 9.7, both tops among all drivers. He was one of four drivers who was running at the end of every race.

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

Jimmie Johnson is the 28th different Cup Series champion and became just the fourth driver in series history to win the Daytona 500 and the title in the same season, joining teammate Jeff Gordon (1997), Lee Petty (1959), Richard Petty (1964. 1971, 1974 and 1979) and Cale Yarborough (1977).

0 -- Victories for Mark Martin or Dale Jarrett in 2006, the first time since 1988 that one of the two drivers did not win a race during the season.

0 -- Times a rookie failed to finish inside the top 15. Denny Hamlin was the highest-finishing rookie in 18 of the 36 races.

1 -- Cup Series champion in the past 12 seasons who did not drive for Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing or Roush Racing. Dale Jarrett won the 1999 Cup Series title driving for Robert Yates Racing.

3 -- Position Denny Hamlin finished in the standings, the highest-ranking rookie James Hylton finished second as a rookie in 1966. Hamlin had two victories and 20 top-10 finishes.

8.472 -- Average starting position for 2006 winners. The worst starting spot for a winner came when Matt Kenseth won from the 31st position at California, the second race of the year. Six races were won from the pole position.

9 -- Top-15 finishes for Matt Kenseth during the 10-race Chase, the only driver to post that many. His only finish worse than 15th was at Kansas, when he was 23rd, one lap down.

13 -- Different drivers won a race in 2006. Eight drivers won multiple races: Kasey Kahne (six), Jimmie Johnson (five), Kevin Harvick (five), Tony Stewart (five), Matt Kenseth (four), Denny Hamlin (two), Jeff Gordon (two) and Greg Biffle (two).

13.941 -- Average running position for Tony Stewart during 2006, the best among drivers not in the Chase. Jimmie Johnson had the best average running position overall at 10.842.

44 -- Drivers who won more than $1 million in earnings. Nine drivers won more than $5 million, led by Jimmie Johnson ($7,735,473) and Tony Stewart ($7,021,810).

77.4 -- Percent of laps Jeff Gordon ran inside the top 15 during the 2006 season, or 8,249 of 10,660 laps, best among all drivers.

212 -- Points Jimmie Johnson gained in the final six races to jump from eighth in the standings, 156 points out, to win the 2006 championship.

353 -- Margin between 12th-place Carl Edwards and 13th-place Greg Biffle in the standings, the largest gap between two drivers who started every race (Chase drivers not included).

706 -- Laps that Kasey Kahne had the fastest car on the track during 2006, more than any other driver. Kahne led 744 laps (7.0 percent) during the season. Casey Mears led three laps all season, the fewest among drivers who competed in every race.

1,360 -- Laps led by Tony Stewart, the most among all drivers. Matt Kenseth, with his 1,132 laps led, was the only other driver to lead more than 1,000. Mark Martin led 292 laps, the most among drivers who did not win a race.

Four drivers won Chase races, with Kevin Harvick being the only two-time winner during the 10-race playoff. Proof that the top 10 drivers deserved their Chase spots, eight of them finished in the top 10 in half of the final 10 races.

Chase for the Nextel Cup

Statistics for the top 10 in the final 10 races

Rank	Driver	Wins	Top-Fives	Top-10s	Avg. Finish
1.	Jimmie Johnson	1	5	6	10.8
2.	Matt Kenseth	0	2	5	10.7
3.	Denny Hamlin	0	4	7	10.6
4.	Kevin Harvick	2	4	6	12.1
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	0	2	5	13.0
6.	Jeff Gordon	0	4	6	15.3
7.	Jeff Burton	1	3	5	16.0
8.	Kasey Kahne	1	3	5	17.9
9.	Mark Martin	0	1	3	17.2
10.	Kyle Busch	0	1	3	22.7

All External sites will open in a new browser window. NASCAR.COM does not endorse external sites.

NASCAR.COM is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network