Crunching the numbers one way to predict Chase (cont'd)

Charlotte

Best Driver: Surprise, surprise -- the driver of the Lowe's car dominates at Lowe's Motor Speedway. With five wins in his 12 starts at the Charlotte course Jimmie Johnson owns this track with an average finish of 8.8.
Worst Driver: Back-to-back tracks of despair could be in store for Kyle Busch. The only driver to have an average finish higher than 30.0 at any of the tracks in the Chase goes belly up again with an average of 34.3 in his seven starts at Lowe's. Ouch!

Inside The Chase

After back-to-back wins at California and Richmond, Jimmie Johnson is hitting his stride as the Chase starts.

• Complete story, click here
• It's go time for Gordon
• Aumann: Key moments
• Menzer: Kenseth concern
• McCarthy: No-mentum
• Complete Coverage

Martinsville

Best Driver: The defending champ get's his groove on again in Virginia. Following his dueling win over Gordon in April, his third at the track, Johnson claims superiority again with an average finish of 6.6.
Worst Driver: Martin doesn't like Martinsville. In his three races at the half-mile oval, Martin Truex Jr. has finished a half-mile behind the leader with an average posting of 28th place.

Atlanta

Best Driver: Welcome to Atlanta where the players play and the biggest player at Atlanta Motor Speedway is Carl Edwards, who owns two wins and a 9.8 average finish at the track just south of the ATL.
Worst Driver: Southern fried at AMS has been Kevin Harvick. Even with a win in 2001, his average finish is a futile 25.1.

Texas

Best Driver: Hamlin returns to the fray averaging a fantastic fifth-place finish. Despite having no wins at the 1.5 mile track, Hamlin's number well outdistances the field.
Worst Driver: Kyle Busch regains the crown he captured at Talladega. An average finish of 28.3 at the Fort Worth track is a large hurdle to overcome down the stretch.

Phoenix

Best Driver: He's seeded No. 1 going into the Chase and could be seeded No. 1 going into the final race. At the penultimate track on the Chase circuit Johnson, the driver of the 48 car, averages a 7.3 finish.
Worst Driver: The only winless driver of the "Chasers" isn't likely to break through in the desert. Bowyer is on the outside of the top 20 typically averaging a 20.5 finish at Phoenix.

Homestead

Best Driver: We have a tie. Harvick and Edwards both finish up strong. In the season's final event each driver has been able to muster an 8.7 average finish.
Worst Driver: The single worst result of any of the drivers at any of the Chase tracks is Kyle Busch's 39.5 average finish in his two starts at Homestead. South Florida has many distractions, but look for Busch to improve this number regardless of the circumstances in the Chase.

Now, in alphabetical order by last name, let's look at each driver's best and worst track among the final 10.

Clint Bowyer

Best Track: As detailed above, Bowyer is the best in the group at Kansas, though he's only raced in front of the home fans once. His sixth-place finish should spur confidence in the third race of the Chase.
Worst Track: Getting off to a bad start is a real concern for the driver of the Jack Daniel's Chevy. His average of 29.3 could make the 12th-seeded driver play catchup in Dover.

Jeff Burton

Best Track: Mr. Consistency doesn't stray too wildly in his numbers at any track; however, his best work is done in Arizona at Phoenix. His two wins have pushed Burton to an 11.6 average finish.
Worst Track: Burton's lows come at Lowe's (that joke looked great in my mind). Despite two wins in 27 starts Burton doesn't average a top 20 start -- sputtering in at 23.5

Kurt Busch

Best Track: Although a native of Las Vegas native might be singing Sweet Home Alabama if his success at Talladega continues. Nearly grabbing a top-10 on average, Busch seems to find his groove in the Deep South.
Worst Track: Have I already used the lows at Lowe's joke? In any case, Busch doesn't seem to like the Charlotte course nearly pushing outside the top 30 at 29.7.

Kyle Busch

Best Track: Dover is about as good as it gets for the outgoing HMS driver. Lucky 13.2 is what he'll be aiming to improve upon in Delaware.
Worst Track: Ughhh! Every time I look at that 39.5 number at Homestead I cringe. Still, let's remember that the sample size is a tad small. We are talking about two races here. (Continued)