Shop Talk: Indianapolis

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth will attempt to end a Roush drought in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Owner Jack Roush's teams have failed to win at only two tracks on the Nextel Cup Series schedule -- Chicagoland Speedway and Indy. Kenseth came close to grabbing Roush Fenway's first Chicago win two weeks ago, finishing second to Tony Stewart.

He has also come close to winning at Indy -- a few times, actually.

Kenseth finished second there in 2003, and again last year. He finished third there in 2002 and fifth in 2005. He's regularly up front, and despite the victory shortcomings, his Loop Data during the past two years surpasses both Stewart (2005's Indy winner) and Jimmie Johnson (last year's winner).

Below is an IMS statistical comparison of Kenseth, Stewart and Johnson:

The consistency of Kenseth's Indianapolis performances during the past two years look uncannily similar. Take a look at a two-year statistic sampling of Kenseth at Indy:

Oddly enough, during the past two years, the entire Roush organization has been the class of the field. Not only that, but Richard Childress Racing and Evernham Motorsports have, as a whole, performed better than Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, each of whom have sent drivers to Victory Lane. The chart below shows numbers from the past two Indy races:

The above numbers suggest that the grids have been tight in the past two Indy races, with non-winners performing as well as the winners.

As for the Race to the Chase, drivers outside the top 12 in points have seven more races to make a move.

Going into Sunday's race, Kurt Busch looks like a driver who could make a major push this Sunday. Busch -- in 14th place -- has a Driver Rating of 89.8 at Indy the past two years, which is well above Dale Earnhardt (12th) and Martin Truex Jr. (11th).

Earnhardt has an Indy Driver Rating of 50.8 (39th-best), while Truex has a 58.4 (32nd-best). Busch is 77 points behind Earnhardt and 134 behind Truex.